Retirement

I don’t know how to start this post…I can say I wish I was the one retiring…but then again I don’t want to rush my life and be THERE just yet. Today was my Mom’s last day of work…she has been with Fontana Unified School District for 18 years tomorrow…November 17th, 1994! CRAZY! She done some pretty outstanding things in this district…you can read about some of it… Employee of the Year…Woman of Distinction Award…Hometown Hero award through Loma Linda University Hospital! Yeah…you can say it…she's freakin’ AWESOME!

Mom was a stay-at-home up until 1994  and ran a small in-home daycare until I was in middle school. She ALWAYS had the house SPOT-LESS, dinners cooked (or at least cooked Gallagher style), and was there to carpool my brother and I around to whichever practice we had going on. Mom was…or still IS the ULTIMATE home-maker!! I try to be like her…and its impossible. She’s the woman that ENJOYS finding a new cleaning product. ENJOYS her bi-yearly window cleaning (who actually cleans every window in their house?), china cabinet cleaning and shining the brass on top of the DAILY housekeeping chores she does…Nuts right?!? She’s also the woman that mowed the lawn, washed the cars, cleaned the pool, cooked the meals, washed the dishes, did all the laundry AND ironing (yes she irons EVERYTHING!), helped with homework and was amazing the whole time doing it! She not only did all this for us…my dad, brother and I…but also for the kids she babysat for, like the Newman's who became like family, and many others. She is everyone’s mom…always there to help!

Mom started working with Fontana Unified as a substitute teachers aid for the severely handicap students.  That was her calling in life…before moving from Ireland to the US she was in nursing school in Ireland working with the severely handicap…and she loved it. But from there being a sub in the district she became a permanent teachers aid, to campus security at my high school (which sounds bad but was actually so awesome having her on my ghetto campus!) then into Child Welfare and Attendance dealing with student attendance and homeless/foster families.  Mom was A-MAZ-ING at her job…and I know that because anyone I ever ran into that knows my mother feels compelled to tell me just HOW amazing my mom truly is! I love that. So I know I’m not biased when I think that my Mother is seriously the most awesome lady on the planet because OTHER people tell me that too…

Last week her department had a small gathering for her at The Cheesecake Factory…and was so cool to have people that I don’t really know tell me how amazing my mom is and how deeply missed she is going to be around Fontana. Brought tears to my eyes every time (but I promised I wouldn’t cry at dinner, especially since I cried earlier that day at our last Wendys lunch haha darn pregnancy hormones are NOT helping with these emotions!!)…

I asked Mom if I could throw her a ragin’ retirement party…but she wouldn’t allow me! I felt bad because so many people love my mom…and will miss her dearly at work everyday but she wanted nothing done for herself. Figures the self-less lady that she is!

After writing all that about my Mom I swear it feelings like I was writing her eulogy…and it shouldn’t feel that way!!! She surely isn’t dead…but a piece of her life is ending…which is just so weird!  Retirement is meant to be such an exciting time in your life…which I’m sure Mom is super excited about…but I’m so conflicted. I’m truly happy and excited for her…how weird life would be knowing you NEVER have to get up for work again…and still have a paycheck coming in…gotta be such an ODD feeling!
But I know…Mom retires now…Dad in March…then they put OUR family home up for sale and are moving away. I still pray at night to give me strength to be happy for them…in this exciting time of their lives…I mean who wouldn’t be excited to move out of Southridge and into a custom built brand new home in Ireland about 100 yards away from where Mom grew up and where her mother still lives to this day…exciting right…but for selfish reasons I don’t want them to go away! I don’t want to have to explain to Owen that Nana’s house is gone…no more sleep overs, no more summer fun in the pool, no more Spud (their dog)…going to take some MAJOR adjustments for our whole family! 

So I pray that I don’t put guilt on my parents…I want them to go ENJOY their life…they have raised me…done their job…they need to go and have fun…while they have their health to do so!! Everyone tells Mom she's crazy for leaving us…but my parents aren’t crazy…they are living out the dream they set for themselves many many years ago.  Most of us should be envious…because we won’t live out our dreams! Not many of us will be able to retire at the age of 55, I mean 35 (wink wink)…be healthy and free to literally ENJOY retired life.  They will be home in Cali twice a year and we will go home to Ireland once a year to be with them…so 3 times a year and daily FaceTime, Skype and phone calls will just become our new norm!

And maybe in 1-2 years time their new dream home with be built and ready on this field…you’ve gotta be excited for them!

Congrats Mom…you deserve to live a WONDERFUL life of a retired person. You have helped plenty of people and now deserve a whole lotta Bernie Time! Heck Mom will be retired…I’ll be on maternity leave…oh we might get ourselves into some trouble in the upcoming months! haha

Love you Mom…and so do SOOO many other people whose lives you have touched in one way or another!