Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

Calls and Paperwork
Over the past two days I have concentrated on dealing with closing accounts, notifying various pension agencies and sorting through masses of paperwork relating to Mom's passing.

Mom received pensions and grants from all sorts of places: as well as her Canadian pension she also received at least one British pension, as well as benefits from Veteran's Affairs. All have been cancelled. Mom also had a number of credit cards, all now cancelled, cards cut up and disposed, and their balances reduced to zero if they weren't already. Then there were various billing agencies to deal with. Despite a balance owing, TV Guide and Rogers neatly zeroed the accounts (though the latter case owed more to an error on their part for not canceling the account that I had paperwork for back at the end of September).

Have also spent time sorting through the sad detritus of what's left of Mom's personal possessions. Dad's paintings have been stored in a corner of the basement. Mom's wheelchair and walker have also been stacked and put away down there, pending future possible use by other family members (though I am also thinking of donating them). Mom's purse was a sorry thing to go through. A scattering of Xmas cards (I jotted down names and addresses so that I can send them a note about Mom's death), a collection of cookies, which I think may have been intended for visits from her Grand-daughters; combs, lipstick, cough drops, all of which were tossed out. One discovery which I think shows the state of Mom's mental condition was a 6+ month collection of un-cashed pension cheques. A single word to me and I could have deposited them for her at the time, but no.

There was an inheritance. Substantial, though I am not going to name figures here. Enough to pay off many debts and, I hope to go towards some home improvements and scholarships funds for the girls, but not enough, say, for paying off the mortgage in one fell swoop.

I find it sad really that she didn't in the end spend far more of what would become my inheritance.

The best part of the past two days has been when I’ve "come up for air" and spent some time with the kids. Annie's a delight, always greeting me with a huge grin on her face, and more than once I was drawn to the top of the stairs from my basement office and all of the paperwork by calls of "Dad-dy, dad-dy, dad-dy". Vanessa has also been trying to cheer me up, usually with cute drawings, though she sometimes brings up the subject of Mom's passing, and wishing she could see her again. For her, the archetype of death was that of Naomi the cat, so often her grief is expressed in the form of "I wish I could see Naomi and Nana again".

Am looking forward to returning to work tomorrow. There’s still some paperwork that needs to be taken care of, but most of it now is simply filing things away for tax time.