Today is my birthday. I’m sure that your gift is on its way Down Under and I’ll give you a pass on it being late due to the long travel time from the rest of the world. I’m officially in my late 30’s as of today and I’m beginning to see some of the inevitable effects of age. Nonetheless, I’m happier today at 37 than I ever was at 27, 17 or 7. That being said, I wouldn’t mind paring a few years off – 33 was pretty good…

Now that my brain has recovered slightly from a day at home with a toddler/terrorist, I’m going to try to put together a proper post. I don’t want to talk about myself – did enough of that last week. But the combination of my one say a week as a SAHD and a post that People In The Sun wrote last week got the rusty gears in my mind slowly grinding. Like him, I spend a fair bit of time on my Dad on this site, but not so much about my Mom. I think the reason for this is, as a new Dad, I can now relate to my own Dad’s experience. This was certainly not always the case, but we’ll leave that aside for now.

So, on my birthday I want to talk a little bit about my Mom, who had a minor role in my birthday. My Mom was a stay-at-home parent for a good part of the 70s and early 80s – making our lunches, getting us off to school and greeting us at the end of the day. Once we got a bit older she went back to work part-time, starting off as a receptionist in a doctor’s office and over the years moving her way up to become the office manager for another group of doctors. In the spirit of building a better mouse trap, Mom decided at some point that working for other people was for suckers. She set up her own medical billing business amongst disused exercise equipment and spare computer parts in her spare room. Writing as someone who tried (and failed) to run a home-based business I know just how difficult a gig this can be. Mom however, had the determination, organization and work ethic that it takes to run a business, she took to it naturally. She worked hard and the business started to grow slowly.  She expanded it to the point that she began to take on employees and then moved out of the home office and into a building downtown. She expanded it to the point that when my Dad was laid off/made redundant/offered early retirement that she was able to employ him full time. For the past several years, both of my parents have made their livings working for the company that my Mom started in her spare bedroom.

A year or so ago my parents made the decision that it was time to retire. They put the business on the market, hoping for a modest addition to their retirement savings. After a few months of nibbles and deals falling through, Mom is putting the finishing touches* on a deal that approaches half a million dollars. That will be a nice little retirement nest egg and will buy lots of flights to Oz to see their grandson.

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*I hope I’m not jinxing it here – I’m pretty sure that the sale has gone through.

** The photos for this post are gifts that I’ve received for my birthday this year. I’ll be sure to put a photo of your’s up when it arrives.

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Brooklyn, New York’s Oxford Collapse released their fourth LP “BITS” back in August. Buy the CD here.

 
icon for podpress  Oxford Collapse - "The Birthday Wars" [2:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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