The Gang's All Here!

The Gang's All Here!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Roasted & Toasted

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the official John Riley Roast. It was such an amazing night filled with so many old friends, memories and laughs. Yes, I flew up to Virginia by myself (glorious!!) while Steve graciously stayed in Atlanta with the kids for the weekend. It would have been great to have us all there, but at the current cost of airfare, we decided that I would fly solo for this event.

For all those not up to date on current events of our family, my dad will be retiring at the end of 2014. He's been the Frederick County (VIRGINIA) administrator for 32 years. That's a long damn time in this day and age, especially in government. Some wonderful friends (in cahoots with many, many others) hosted the roast for my dad. Now, like many of you, I've really only seen the roasts done on Comedy Central, so I wasn't quite sure how "wild" things were going to get. Honestly, I'm not sure who was more nervous - my mom or my dad. My brother and I had a great time making them sweat before the event ;).

 More than 200 people attended the roast, which was such a testimony to my dad's impact on not only the county, but state of Virginia. For me, it was like walking through the years of my childhood in the best possible way. We had people in attendance from my very early years (I'm sort of ancient at this point) up until present. How cool is that?!?! I sort of compared it to being at a wedding, but not having any of the responsibility of planning. Seeing old friends and reminiscing about the good days gone by is and always will be the best medicine, hands down.

My dad claims he was skewered, but let's be real, the roasters were very fair and didn't dig up too much dirt ;). There was lots of material to choose from! But, oh gosh, did we laugh until we cried. If you know my dad at all, then you know of the gazillion nicknames floating about, most stemming from John Riley himself. It was so funny to hear them mentioned after all of these years. Lest, we not forget the infamous Chicken Song, which shall now live on in infamy, much to my father's horror. If anyone got a video of that...

On a more serious note, I could not be any more proud of my dad than I was that night. He has done so much for the community, both in leadership and example. His strong values and emphasis on helping others has helped shaped me into the person I am today, and for that, I will never be able to thank him enough. So, here's to you dad, for a remarkable run and a well earned place at the top - Cheers! Also, that was only water in my tequila shot glass Saturday evening ;)

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