Closing a business is never easy. Closing a business successful for over 24 years is bittersweet. This week, I am helping my mom close the business we started together in 1990 and it is tough.

When I was 19 years old, a junior in college, I wrote a business plan to open a retail bridal shop. I got an A. Not just in the class, I got an A in the school of hard knocks, too, because that business survives to this day… well at least until June 30.

One of our very first brides, fall 1990.

My mom and I took my business plan to heart and made it happen. I was 20. She was 42. She was the same age I was two years ago when I took this business, my VA business, full-time. Her character and tenacity through the years echoes in my work ethic and the work I do for my clients.

At Tavern on the Green, NYC in 1993

At a wedding in the mid 1990’s, doing the bustle

With the staff in 1994

At the Debi Awards 1996 Chicago

At the Debi Awards, Chicago 2000

When I left the business 13 years ago in 2001 I was burned out; hated the hours; wanted something more. It was hard to leave her behind but she was happy and still loved it. I didn’t have regrets about leaving for years. When my mom turned 63, in 2010, I started to feel regret. She worked countless, often thankless hours. And she worked hard. I wondered if I should have stayed long ago to be able to help her now. But it wasn’t my calling.

At the time I was busy with my own business. I supported her as a client in my practice, but that gave me a deep look into the life she now had. My heart ached for her to move on.

They worked with a broker to sell the store, but in the end my mom decided to close her business and end the 24 years on her own terms. I am SO PROUD of her. She is truly my inspiration. I am so lucky to be the daughter of entrepreneurial minds, to have been given a deep desire to work hard, and to do something to help others.

I traveled back to my parent’s house on Friday, June 13 to work with her for the final sale and help get her on the way to closing. That week turned into two, and I am still here, running my business from the bedroom I grew up in, and helping out at the store evenings and weekends until Sunday the 29th. My clients have been amazing while I have been here. I am so very grateful. While I won’t be there when the doors close the final time on the 30th, that is okay with me… my mom carried the business for 13 years by herself (with my father’s and the staff’s help) so I think she should get that final moment to herself, too.

It’s a huge accomplishment to stay in business for almost 25 years. The stars were aligned on the closing, her lease was up, many of her contractual agreements were up, and her alterations manager had already decided to retire. It was as if she were granted permission to stop pushing so hard, take a deep breath, and enjoy her life.

Please join me in raising a glass, a toast, and a prayer for my mom and her accomplishment. I can only imagine how it will feel in 22 years when I can say I have been in business as long as she has… and decide for myself when it is time to stop and retire. For now, I wish her every happiness as she ends this long, rewarding, and immeasurably gratifying stint as an entreprenuer. I pray she has lots of laughter, grand-daughter giggles, and travel with my dad in her future.

Mom, here’s to your health, to the lives you have changed, the example you have been, and to the dreams you have made come true. Thank you. We salute you and the legacy of A L’Amour.