It doesn’t matter that I have a degree in something else.
I’m the eldest, I’m the only son. I was the first one born here. This is our family’s business.
But there’s not a week that goes by that I don’t think about selling it.
The industry we’re in has changed tremendously in the past two decades
It’s almost all online now, so brick & mortar is a liability.
ChaoticConcertina:Everyone tells me to sell, get the money for the land and the building.
I’m in an area that is rapidly developing, so I know I would make a mint.
But it’s not just a shop. It’s not just a business.
It was my grandfather’s dream. It’s been my dad’s whole life.
And I can’t just sell that off like a used car.
ChaoticConcertina:Think of this as a gift from your mom, Pinky.
Everyone you know will tell you how to invest it, what you should do with it.
And I guess I am too — Spend like it’s a gift from your mom.
Take a course or two and learn about her culture. Join a mixed-species group.
Do something that makesyouhappy, and then remember that it’s from your mom.
And think about how happyshewould be to see you so happy.
And don’t ever apologize for venting here.
When she’d read his message the following morning, Sumi sat before her laptop, shoulders shaking as she sobbed, beyond grateful to this empathetic stranger who understood her so well.
PinksPosies&Pearls:Thank you for understanding.
And yeah, that’s exactly it. There’s more to it than people see on the surface.
I’m so sorry to hear about your father’s diagnosis. I can’t imagine how hard that is.
I know my mom was sick for a long time, but I was too young to remember her decline.
If you ever need to just scream into the void, the over-sharing void is here to listen.
I guess talking to each other is a hell of a lot cheaper than therapy, right?
Thinking of this as a gift from my mom is honestly probably the very best advice
so thank you for that as well.
If her inheritance had only been money, she likely would have done exactly as he’d suggested. Inquired into whether or not there was a multi-species support group in the area. Taken a class on Japanese Art, on kimono, a beginner’s language class. After all, the handful of classes she’d had time for back in undergrad seemed very far away.
If it had been just money, she would’ve done exactly that.
But it hadn’t been just money, even though the money was substantial, a life-changing amount for her. The little nest egg she’d accumulated in fifteen years of teaching would have been at home in a pigeon’s nest’s, a tiny crumb compared to what she had gained from this unknown relative. Along with their savings and assets, her mother’s aunt had also left her home, the home she and her husband had lived in for more than thirty years, in a town called Cambric Creek.
She went to see it alone.
