Sunday, January 4, 2009

Mom's Retirement


My mom hit a huge milestone in her life this past Friday - she retired. It had to have been such an exciting day for her, filled with mixed emotions. She has worked for the Social Security Administration for almost 40 years. I have never seen anyone love the work they do more than my mom did - or have such a passion for it - or such an incredible work ethic. Even on her very last day she was working on several cases, trying to get them closed out so claimants could receive their money. Most of us would take that day to our advantage and spend it cleaning out our desk, shredding papers, and saying our goodbyes. Not my mom - she's incredible.

Riley has to be pumped about this milestone - I sure am. This is allowing my mom and dad to do what they really want to do, which is babysit Riley. Most of you know that my parents live right outside of Marietta and that is about 3 1/2 hours away from here. Well, those are the type of people my parents are. Who cares about the drive or the cost of gas - they want to see their granddaughter! They do the same thing for my brother's triplets. He lives in Dayton - 3 1/2 hours away from them in the opposite direction - and I don't know how many times my parents have driven there in the wee hours of a morning, just to babysit for the day and return home that night. They're amazing.
Since I'll be returning to work part-time and only working three days a week (woo hoo!!), my parents will be coming to babysit on Thursdays and Fridays. I am pretty sure the plan will be for them to arrive on Wednesday evening, and then stay with us through Friday evening when we get home from work. Of course this thrills me, because this will be the first time in over 10 years that I get to see my parents on a weekly basis - I cannot wait!

Since it is still too early on in Riley's little life to take a road trip to Marietta, we didn't get to drive down there on Friday to celebrate my mom as I wish we could have. However, in place of the being there in person, Riley gave a tribute to her grandma:

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