I write this as I am sitting in my timeshare over the F1 track in Las Vegas. Second year in a row for me, and the second year in a row that my friend had something come up and he couldn't join. This would be one of those perfect guy trips, go to Vegas, watch the race, drink a little, etc. but others in my small circle of friends are uninterested or couldn't break away. My wife has no interest either, so I'm a little bored, if not maybe a tiny bit lonely. I found some exhibits to keep me busy though.
However, I'm perfectly fine just hanging out by myself, and have some experience. When my mother-in-law fell and my wife had to fly up to Oregon to help her, she was gone for almost a month. You might remember I joined her for a bit of that, but outside of it I kept myself busy with my collateral duty as the Director for Membership for the KofC here in California. It's a year-long position and there's always something to be done for it, either welcoming new members, giving guidance to councils on how to recruit, helping start new ones, reactivate old ones, etc. Fortunately I'm at a lull right now before Thanksgiving so it's a good time for the race.
Speaking of my mother-in-law, while we put her into assisted living back in September, we were unable to follow that up with, nor did we think we would need guardianship or conservatorship over her, which was a mistake. Getting an appointment to see a lawyer up there was easy, but the appointment isn't until next month. And in that time, my MIL checked herself out and moved back into her house. She called a cab and just left. She has dementia, but it isn't all consuming, and she can function somewhat. However, she also has physical concerns which is why she fell and why we placed her there. At the time she was accepting of it, and even admitted she can't drive anymore, and gave her car away to a niece. However, the other day we got a call from a car dealership (they know the family) as she was in their lobby trying to buy another car. They couldn't legally stop her from buying, but since she no longer had a license (it had an expired last April) they wouldn't let her take possession. We're not sure if she actually made the purchase. There's no change in her bank account so probably not. My wife's sister and cousin have set her up with home health, and a maid, and I still have some VA paperwork I need to get submitted to help cover some costs. Her leaving might have been a blessing as the cost of that facility was pretty high, and we found out that her mom had spent every cent of what my father-in-law had left her. While the house and car were purchased with cash, the rest of the fortune, 40 years of Dad owning & working for the family garbage company, had been spent frivolously, or given away through misplaced generosity. There were also some scam-ish behavior by some folks, taking advantage of her. Going through paperwork we found payments for various things around the house and the old ranch that were astronomic, people gave estimates that were sky high, and she just accepted it. And thus, we wouldn't be able to afford that assisted living facility without putting her house on the market or up for rent. To make matters worse, the rents up there would have to be combined with every cent she brought in monthly from social security and Dad's disability payment. If the dementia gets worse, we will have to rethink memory care, but we will see how the appointment goes with the attorney and efforts to seek guardianship.
Until then she has home health coming several days a week, the niece who was given the car is checking in regularly, and another cousin has been hired to keep the house clean as another check-up on her. She really needs 24/7 care but we can't afford that right now. We did purchase a life alert system for her home as well. We have mixed emotions about this, trying to do what is right for her, but she isn't happy with us taking over her finances, telling the dealership to tell her no, and other acts that she sees as controlling.
I will reiterate what I stated in my previous post about this issue: Have those conversations with your children now. Children, ask your parents what they want when it gets to this point.
I will touch a bit about politics, but not really a rant. I am back at work which is nice, and it only took two days to clear out my inbox. I may regret my fast-paced purge, deleting things that might be important, but I can blame Congress. Will there be another furlough on January 30th? I can definitely see it happening. One of the agreements for the Dems voting to reopen the government was that Obamacare subsidies would be discussed. However, we all now see that that is just a pass-through from the federal government, by way of more and more debt, just printing money, right into the coffers of the insurance companies. It does nothing about why Obamacare is so GD expensive. I don't think this issue will be solved by January 30th if that is the Dems litmus test for further funding. Can they develop an actual budget with something that needs to be completely reformed? I don't think so, but over the years I've become a political cynic. Could Trump the dealmaker figure something out to help? That wouldn't surprise me. However, the list of donations by big pharma and big insurance to politicians on both sides of the aisle is long.
Anyhoo, I'll be back to work on Tuesday (probably when you're reading this), and have the long turkey-coma weekend after that. We're hosting the family again which has unfortunately gotten smaller. The short lives my family seems to live is another reason why I relish these vacations. You never know how long you have, so celebrate when you can, even if you're by yourself. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and keep the prayers going for Juvat's recovery.
*Paper? That's becoming a dated reference.