c'est la vie

  There are things they don't tell you when your parents die.  There are things you are not prepared for when one parent dies and the other one is still alive. There are things you are bombarded with when both your parents die in quick succession.  This blog is not a who should have known what and by whom should it all be known, piece.  This is a "hello everyone know what is coming your way and ensure you have your ducks in a row for your beneficiaries and heirs one day".  Obviously tiny estate, tiny problems.  Big estate, big problems.  However the paperwork stays the same. When I say heirs, I mean the main ones responsible for supplying info and packing up.  In the natural flow of things this would be the children of the deceased. If there are no children, make sure you have tasked someone with this. Obviously this often does not apply to all heirs.  My dad handled all the affairs, both financial and other, in their marriage. He paid t...

  She carried the swimming costumes towards the changing rooms with a determination she did not feel.   Clasping them against her body in case anyone saw her and assumed she was going to go out in public with one of those on.   “Three items” she muttered to the change room assistant, and clasping her large plastic “3” she scuttled into the last cubicle, before she changed her mind. It was the taking off of all your clothes that was the most irritating   to her.   The three costumes were now lined up on hangers against the wall, in order of preference.   Not necessarily sorted by colour, but rather by “first impressions”.   Number three had beautiful bright pink daisies on it – a one piece costume, like the others (she was not trying to scare the children on the beach), it screamed summer, sunshine and seaside.   None of the attention she wanted, but she had been unable to resist bringing it in. She slid into contestant number 1. Perhaps slid is ...

 So when is being enough, actually being enough.  Times are tough out there.  Not every company that got hammered in Covid, survived.  Many companies did and it is business as usual. Many companies are dragging themselves along, half winged, in a desperate attempt to survive.  If you are in the latter, it is like the Man in the Arena.  If you have not read that little piece, I will add it at the bottom of the post. You see, when you are outside someone's situation, it is very easy to tell them what they should have, must have, could have done.  It is very easy to say they brought it upon themselves, got what was coming, never budgeted.  My dear people, every one of us cuts our cloth according to our income.  And if I ask you, yes you reading this, if tomorrow your income stops, through no fault of your own, or is quartered, would you be able to cover your expenses month in and month out.  If you say yes, then you are either a) with a mas...

 62 days.  Just 62 days ago a life of 83 years long, gently slipped away.  Not with clanging cymbals, not with fanfare, not needing us to make the difficult and final decisions pending, just a gentle slipping away, connected to many machines, doing many different things.  Dear Mom, When the hospital called and asked me to come as quickly as possible, I knew.  When the nurse said they couldn't discuss it over the phone and that I should drive carefully, I knew.  Loadshedding robbed us of getting there a few hours earlier, since in loadshedding your house becomes that bastion of zero signal. They couldn't reach me. But they assured me that it would have still been the same news. There would not have been time to speak to you.  Goodbye. I said it. The evening before. You know that I had arrived 8 days earlier, just 8 days, knowing in my heart and mind that this would be the last visit that you would be part of. I had asked the hospital if I could visit af...