The Day I Never Thought I’d See

Greetings, squadlings.

For those of you who don’t know, my dad is a meteorologist on our local TV news station. He’s worked there since before I was born–I don’t know a life without that station in it. My dad works The Morning Show, 4:00AM-7:00AM, Monday-Friday. He works the show with a woman named Christine. I don’t remember the show without Christine. She’s been sitting next to my dad every morning for 14 years.

Christine is retiring from TV tomorrow morning.

I’d be lying if I said I religiously watch my dad’s show: it starts at 4AM, and I’m 21. You do the math. That being said, whenever I did catch the show, it was always my dad and Christine. They’ve been through pretty much everything together: Christine was at my dad’s wedding, and he was at hers. She was in that god-awful video of him that went viral two years ago. She was at his birthday parties. I honest-to-God do not know a life without Christine in it.

Whenever I would go to work with my dad while I was growing up (and even now), I always looked forward to seeing Christine. She’s so genuine–what you see of Christine on TV is exactly what goes on the second those cameras turn off. She doesn’t create a fake persona for the audience: what you see is what you get. She always, always, always made me laugh. That’s just who she is.

Christine has been such a big part of my life, for almost the entirety of my life. I know I’ll still see her, obviously, she’s going to continue being a part of my life (probably for the rest of my life), but it’s going to be pretty freakin’ weird to see somebody else sitting at that desk with my dad in the mornings.

I wish, more than anything, that I could be back home for her last day, but alas, it’s the weekend before finals and no one is going home, so I can’t get a ride.

While I’m sad to see Christine go, I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do.

Christine: Best wishes, I love you, and thank you. For everything.

Be well, squadlings.