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Dad's been in the banking industry for about 40 years. He's spent the last 16 years with a private financial consulting firm, and probably about the last decade as president of that firm. He's the #2 in the Houston office.
Dad's boss, the CEO, was diagnosed with leukemia maybe a year or so ago. He went in for some kinda surgery, I forget for what, and when they did the bloodwork that's when they found the leukemia. So they didn't do the surgery, he went straight into chemotherapy.
He was in remission for all of three months, now the cancer's back. The CEO isn't getting any younger and he's decided he'd rather retire to try to fight his cancer in relative peace without having to worry about keeping up with the office. Dad's 66, and his health's not so great either. Therefore, the CEO is handing over the reins to the guy who heads their Kansas City office. The CEO is fine with that, Dad's fine with that.
Need I say where this is going? Those of you who know me from my last dozen years in #callahans on Undernet, and those of you who've read my LJ, may have some idea what a lovely and charming example of womanhood the Maternal Unit is. She's royally pissed.
Their house is paid for, Mom's car is paid for, but Dad just got a new car. She had this fantasy that she could make double payments on it and have his car paid off in a year. So now she's pulling the "I'm so pissed that I'm gonna get uberquiet and if you talk to me I may explode" routine. She obviously knew their income would go down when she retired from full time teaching. She's also bragged to anyone within earshot that she's been socking all of *her* money away for years; they've been living solely on Dad's income. So the thing that's got her worked up into a snit is the idea--oh, the horror--that they might actually have to start living on *her* money, too!
So, rather than being happy that Dad's finally retiring from a job where he worked his ass off every day for 40 years, she's pissed that their standard of living might actually have to go down to where they're still earning more than what hubby makes at his job and what I make on disability. Isn't it awful?
I'm thrilled for Dad. I really am. He earned his retirement in every meaning of the word. But the Maternal Unit has an absolute gift for casting a pall over someone else's happiness. "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." I wish my father the best...and I wish my mother would just get the hell over herself, already!
Dad's boss, the CEO, was diagnosed with leukemia maybe a year or so ago. He went in for some kinda surgery, I forget for what, and when they did the bloodwork that's when they found the leukemia. So they didn't do the surgery, he went straight into chemotherapy.
He was in remission for all of three months, now the cancer's back. The CEO isn't getting any younger and he's decided he'd rather retire to try to fight his cancer in relative peace without having to worry about keeping up with the office. Dad's 66, and his health's not so great either. Therefore, the CEO is handing over the reins to the guy who heads their Kansas City office. The CEO is fine with that, Dad's fine with that.
Need I say where this is going? Those of you who know me from my last dozen years in #callahans on Undernet, and those of you who've read my LJ, may have some idea what a lovely and charming example of womanhood the Maternal Unit is. She's royally pissed.
Their house is paid for, Mom's car is paid for, but Dad just got a new car. She had this fantasy that she could make double payments on it and have his car paid off in a year. So now she's pulling the "I'm so pissed that I'm gonna get uberquiet and if you talk to me I may explode" routine. She obviously knew their income would go down when she retired from full time teaching. She's also bragged to anyone within earshot that she's been socking all of *her* money away for years; they've been living solely on Dad's income. So the thing that's got her worked up into a snit is the idea--oh, the horror--that they might actually have to start living on *her* money, too!
So, rather than being happy that Dad's finally retiring from a job where he worked his ass off every day for 40 years, she's pissed that their standard of living might actually have to go down to where they're still earning more than what hubby makes at his job and what I make on disability. Isn't it awful?
I'm thrilled for Dad. I really am. He earned his retirement in every meaning of the word. But the Maternal Unit has an absolute gift for casting a pall over someone else's happiness. "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." I wish my father the best...and I wish my mother would just get the hell over herself, already!
