A happy day for the sandwich generation

You know what? We haven’t had a “yay day” around here in ages. On a sunny blue morning, it seems like a fine day to be grateful out loud.

My biggest “yay” today is for my mom: she retired yesterday. Yay for retirement! Well, she actually retired a while back, but her last day of work was yesterday. I think she’s still dancing with glee today!

Funny aside: Way back when she was in high school in the early 1960s, the nuns tried to refuse my mom entry into the business stream of classes because she was at the time already seeing my dad, and they said the business classes would be wasted on her because she was just going to get married and have a family straight out of high school. My grandfather raised a storm and she was eventually allowed to take the classes. Turns out the nuns were right — she did get married and start a family, and then she only put those secretarial and accounting skills into action for the next 45 years or so. (*insert eyeball roll here*)

You know what’s really weird? On the path I’m currently on, I’ll be eligible for fully-pensioned retirement in just 15 years. (!!) I’ve already got almost 20 years under my belt — that makes me more than half way done my career. Hard to imagine that Lucas won’t even be done high school by the time I’m eligible to retire! Of course, with two in university and one just getting ready for university, I might not be able to afford to retire!

So yay for retirements, current and pending! And more stuff to be grateful for: it’s the last day of school! Yay! I remember last summer I was dreading everyone being home, and then I cried in September when everybody went back to school. So yay for being stuck with your family all summer long! I can hardly wait! (And I’ll try not to be bitter while Beloved AND the boys AND my folks are all off and I’m still trudging to the office. There’s another yay — for 20 years worth of accumulated vacation leave!)

And yay for excellent report cards! Tristan’s lowest mark was in (snicker) gym, where he got a B-, but he got As in both math and reading. Math! My boy!! And he doesn’t get it from his father, either! Since both of his parents need to take off their shoes to count beyond ten, it must be a genetic throw-back. And while they don’t get letter grades in junior kindergarten, Simon is progressing well in all areas but excelling in (snicker) communication. My Simon, who could talk the feathers off a duck. Hmmm, that must be a genetic throw-back, too.

So today is an excellent day for the sandwich generation. I’m proud of my folks, and proud of my boys. The sun is shining, and it’s going to be my favourite kind of summer day.

What’s making the sun shine in your world today?

Related posts (automatically generated):

1. Pop culture anniversaries for Generation X 2008 happens to be the 20th anniversary of the year I graduated from high school and moved from my parents’ home in London, Ontario to Ottawa. Twenty years since high school – ouch! There was a fun article in the Ottawa Citizen last week that I would link to here...
2. Ten years ago today, I married my Beloved Ten years ago today, in a tiny church in London’s Pioneer Village in front of 45 of our best friends and family on the hottest day of the summer, I said these words: I, Danielle, choose you, Mark, to be my love. I pledge to you my life, my heart,...
3. Meeting the teacher It’s late (well, after dark) and I’m beyond tired, but I wanted to tell you a little bit about Tristan’s first-first day (as opposed to his first small-class day, and his first whole-class day) on Wednesday. I’m not sure I have enough brainpower left to create a cohesive narrative arc,...
4. The summer of my life I’ve been thinking about my greatest summer hits. In chronological order, I think these are the best five summers of my life. 1987. I’m seventeen years old. I’m working part time selling magazine subscriptions by telephone, but my hours are 5 to 9 pm, so my days are free. My...
5. Thoughts on changing schools and echoes of years gone by Today, Tristan will be starting Grade 3 and Simon will be starting Grade 1. It’s taken me about this long to stop fretting on the boys’ behalf about the first day of school. After a few years, I’ve finally realized that they have suffered none of the grade school trauma...