Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2002. Mattie was 8 months old. That evening we went over to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's home for dinner. While there, we put Mattie into a "jumper." It was the world's best gadget that hangs from a door threshold. Mattie could stand in it, jump in it, and even swing. He absolutely loved it. We received a jumper from a friend of mine, and we used it every night for the first several months to gently swing Mattie to sleep. Of course once Mattie was sleeping, picking him up from the jumper and placing him into his crib was like mission impossible.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- number of people diagnosed with the virus: 14,282,494
- number of people who died from the virus: 277,958
In February our neighbor, JP, died. We have known JP ever since we moved into our complex, which was in 1994. It is hard to believe we have been here for 26 years. For some reason it doesn't seem that long, but that could be because for me time is existent! The years before I had Mattie seem like a lifetime ago and forget about the years since Mattie died. In a way, I feel like I live in a time capsule. So reflecting on the fact that I have been in the same place for 26 years doesn't seem possible. I came to DC as a graduate student, and back then I couldn't even conceive of childhood cancer much less think about how it could affect my life.
However, JP's death has shown me the ugly side of death. Not that there ever is a pretty side to it. But JP appointed two executors to his will. He selected these two friends because they practically grew up together and were very close. Well close until they all had a falling out with each other. NOTE TO SELF, if you have a falling out with the person you appoint as your executor of your will, UPDATE your will and appoint a NEW executor.
When JP died, we learned that both executors of his will refused to serve in this role. Which left things in a quandary. JP's family doesn't live in our region and therefore after they came here to assess the situation and met Peter, they decided to appoint Peter to this large task. Which is actually a lot to ask of someone. But Peter took it on. Of course all of this is happening around the time of COVID-19.
Since JP's executors refused to serve in the role, legal paperwork had to be filed with the DC courts to appoint Peter. Peter and JP's family are working with a law firm and filed these papers with the court in the spring. It is now December, and we have yet to hear from the court regarding the appointment of a new executor. So instead JP's estate has been sitting idle, with the family having to pay rent for an apartment he hasn't lived in since February. We are all on hold because of the court system.
Meanwhile, the family decided to start cleaning out JP's home. Furniture, art work, and other items have been dispersed to family and close friends. All decisions decided upon by the family. As Peter and I are staying out of this until Peter is officially appointed in some capacity. The only thing we are doing is opening and closing doors for people to move things out of the unit. Since we live a few doors down from JP, we are involved whether we want to be or not.
JP's townhouse is mostly cleaned out now. Except there are pieces of furniture and other items that need to be dumped or donated. So today, I met with one of the people in our complex to assess the cost of removing these items out and also doing a deep clean of the unit. It is quite unfortunate that this unit was infested with mice, and therefore, I spend little to no time in it because of the health risk. What captured my attention today was the simple fact that we all accumulate items, our world's possessions. Yet at the end of the day, these possessions get either taken or totally discarded by others. To me this is a sad commentary and a reminder that objects are just that...... they do not matter at the end of the day. As objects are dispensable and typically NOT cherished by others.
No comments:
Post a Comment