Getting old
I have been in New Brunswick Canada the last 3 weeks and it looks like I'll be here another 3 weeks before I get to go home. And I'll have to return later this yr too.. I have been dealing with my fathers estate, no he hasn't passed physically, but mentally, he has been deemed incompetent. He is 88 yrs old and has been in the hospital since July and will never return home... Which means now I am faced with getting power of attorney and placing him in a full care facility, he is refusing to go on his own and in Canada, no one can force some one to go into a home until doctors have deemed them incompetent. So I'm seeing a lawyer next week to go thru this process.
I have been going thru the house, basement and garage throwing away junk and plastic bags and out dated stuff. He had a missing light fixture in the bathroom, I fixed and at one point the plaster ceiling had fallen down where he had a roof leak. The roof was fixed, but he never fixed the ceiling... The house is old and out dated and will need major remodeling... I will be selling it as a handyman special.
Going thru this experience has given me a new prospective on things... a real reality check... at 59 yrs of age no less. I don't want to do any of this, having to go thru junk and trash for 3 weeks and counting just to see what he does have that I might want to keep, like old family photos and family heirlooms.
I'm not looking for sympathy or anything, but I suspect many of us are aging, to put it nicely... Do you family a favor and minimize your life... Keep your possessions to the basics and make notes of the little things like where the well is, the septic system or if you have a special systems setup and how it operates. Example, my father has 3 types of heating.. electric base boards, a wood burning furnace and a oil burning furnace. Then I discovered he has a manual electrical box where he can power the basics of the house with a generator.
I have no clue how to operate or what's involved with the oil furnace and have been heating the house with the base boards and wood furnace (when I'm there working on the house).
I know its hard to sell or clean out things of your pass, but you have to ask yourself when was the last time you used it and is it something you need and does it have any value ... I cannot tell you of the broken radios, telephones, oh god plastic grocery bags (hundreds of them) and plastic forks and spoons, plastic storage containers, old fishing magazines from 20-30 yrs ago.
I'm sure my fathers mind has been going for a while, cause who keeps hundreds of plastic bags and old telephones.
Anyways be kind to yourself and those around you cause we all are going "Move On". Personally I'd rather die quickly then to lose my mind and simply exist like a vegetable
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