Dear Cody, 08/12/2011

Good morning son. Week six in the letter streak. Yet again I remain … THE MAN! Woot, woot, woot!

I hope your week has gone well and your grades continue to be good. I have left you a couple of messages and texts to give me a call. We have some stuff to discuss.

After a year or so of hurry up and wait I have been offered the Qatar position with the expectation that I will be there sometime shortly after mid September. Your mom will join me sometime between mid October and the first part of December. We are still working out her schedule. She has some work projects to wrap up and wants to see you and go to Oregon for a visit before she joins me.

The offer is a dual role. My initial duties will be much like I was doing in NJ and the secondary role is Deputy Director of Operations. My total staff will be ~3000 expanding to 6000 during the annual shutdown. I am looking forward to the opportunity and starting a new adventure.

Your mom is both excited and apprehensive. You can guess how she is dealing with me once again not only moving her cheese but shredding it in to very tiny little cheese niblets. She will be all excited for a day or two then she gets sniffley when she considers having to leave the new house. She is ready to leave her current firm but moving so far from you is her biggest issue. Mine too by the way. However, we have done this before when you were at NMMI and on visitation so we can stay close and make this happen I am sure. You will have to keep us closely informed on your leave status so we can get you over to hang out with us or meet somewhere for cool a family vacation once a year of so.

Of course to keep us informed you will have to CALL!!!! Grrrr and other angry dad noises as you are fond of saying. You better start calling us regularly you bone head! Unless both of your dialing fingers are broken you better start calling before your mother hits the road to lecture you in front of your co-workers. She will bring your Deema and no armed service in the history of man could withstand a siege by your Deema and your Mom. Alexander the Great would pop to attention and say “Yes Ma’am” to your Deema when she gets on a roll as you well know.

Okay, enough grousing at you for not calling… For now.

You have a decision to make on cars. Do you want yours, or mine? They are both new and nice cars. Mine was purchased March of last year and yours in December. Of course mine is much cooler and a chick magnet and yours is more practical. So, do you want a red sports car that claims to have rear doors and seats or your black sporty yet infinitely more practical ride? Of course if you take mine you will have to learn to drive a stick but a weekend of driving it back to Biloxi with your Deepa giving you lessons from the passenger seat will solve that problem. I was thinking that we would also put an extended warranty on whichever one you choose so that at least for the next 6 or so years you don’t have to worry about a big repair bill with either vehicle.

Your call kid-oh, just let me know which one you want and we will get the title transferred to you before we head to the desert.

Speaking of vacations….. next year Carly will graduate from HS and we are planning on going to Singapore for her graduation. You need to start planning your leave so that you can come. We can include a vacation in Malaysia, Vietnam or Thailand at one of the island beach resorts. We want you there of course and so do Carly, the boys and your Aunt and Uncle. The tickets and lodging will of course be on us. Entertainment and treating your mom and I to one very nice dinner of our choice will be on you. You are doing well but there is no need for you to blow your savings less than a year out of the house so …. Thank your wonderful parents for thinking of you.

Random grouse …. Now would be a good time to call your parents! If you are reading this paragraph pick up your phone and dial, obviously not using your grievously injured dialing finder.

I saw your comments on FB regarding my “secret” plan to dispose of your mom’s copper pots and pans. You had your mom laughing so hard with your comments that she was in tears. I have to say that you and I are on the same page with those damned copper monstrosities. Your mom loves them but you and I are the ones who truly know that they are the root of all dishwashing evil. They can’t go in the dishwasher and polishing them just SUCKS! Don’t tell your mom but I tested one of the small ones in the dishwasher. Big mistake …… huge. It turned this quite unique shade of blackish-green that took me more than an hour to polish off with Barkeeper’s Friend. Ugghhhh that did nothing but suck I have to tell you. So, next time I ship her off to Oregon for some time with her gene pool I swear I am going to sell them to a scrap metal dealer. Of course I will have to replace them with some equally spendy gourmet cooking line but as long as the damned things will go in the dishwasher I will spend your entire inheritance, which I am planning on spending anyway, to avoid polishing another damned copper pan. The only thing you may get from your mom and I may very well be some expensive STAINLESS STEEL pans but you are uniquely experienced to understand that as long as your inheritance does not include copper pans that you will be a truly blessed and wealthy man.

Of course if you don’t start calling your mother all that you inherit may well be COPPER PANS!

Call your mom kid-oh.

I love you.
Dad