A Real Piece of Work Leaves Us

Okay, so the plan is to jam in a bunch of history in a few 'first posts' to get to the point that I can redefine mundane on a daily basis. Most people will already know this history stuff, but, just as I don't start reading the 2nd book in a series before reading the first one, I don't wanna start in the middle (gosh, I HOPE we're at the middle!). Of course, we all know how *plans* work out...

In February, my dad passed away after a fairly short battle with lung cancer. He had a very kind neighbor lady, Katie. Katie and another neighbor had been bringing him evening meals for quite some time and generally keeping an eye on him. Katie finally had to bully him into giving her my telephone number so that she could call me to come to Vancouver to be with him - HE didn't want to bother me.

The call came at about 8:30 Tuesday night, we were on a plane at oh-dark-thirty Wednesday morning (oh, there's another story - but if I go off tangents we'll be here all week. Short version is messed up reservation, no luggage, flashing red lights, body search - no cavities, thank you very much). We arrived a my dad's house (geez, another tangent: Mapquest does NOT know all) at about 11 a.m. Dad was on oxygen, in his recliner, and taking regular doses of morphine. He was able to talk a little. We are a practical, not sappy family ('nuff said). We met one of his Kaiser hospice nurses, and basically stayed with him and made him as comfortable as possible. He passed away at about 10 a.m. the next morning, in his recliner, the way he wished to go.

This is important to what follows: Dad didn't want to inconvenience us with mundane details that we'd have to take care of from California, so in his Trust he left the entire contents of his house to a local friend, Truoc (more on him later), though the house itself was left to The Girl and The Boy and me.

We spent about a week gathering paperwork, calling people and services and other official stuff, and drinking coffee and reminiscing with each other and with Katie the other neighbors. We then loaded up the car (oh, boy, I do mean LOADED) and drove back to Sacramento.

Mr. W. did his Wonderful-thing and got all of the paperwork figured out and claims filed, blah, blah, blah. I say blah-blah because it was all such a blur. I know that I could have waded through it all, but he is the organized one of us PLUS he has experience with life insurance stuff. Wait - that's not strong enough - he was a godsend for all of his support during and especially after our trip to Vancouver.

One last thing - thank you to everyone who sent cards and emails and gave hugs during those days. I'm a tough old bird, you know, but I really do appreciate the support of my friends and family, even though I'm lousy at showing it.

Next: The Unthinkable Happens