four seasons in one day

Erica and I share a telephone. That’s code for she uses it once in a blue moon and I know it’s there. For my communications I use my iPod. I text mostly or email. The only downside of the iPod is I have to be where there is Wi-Fi. It’s a few years old and the battery life is not tiptop. There’s Wi-Fi at Da Park but I only log on if there’s an issue and I need to check either texts or emails.

I logged on yesterday about 11:30 to see if there was any communications from the Da Olda Sista or the lawyers. I saw there was an email from The Law Talking Guys-
“Great news, I spoke with the Clerk this morning covering our hearing this afternoon and she signed off on the accounting for approval. Therefore, there is no need to appear in court!”

Holy shit. Are you kidding me? I read this while standing on the platform and shrieked in excitement. The people on the train gave me a look. I hopped on the engine and took off. Around the first bend I had to pretend I was sneezing and cover my mouth. In fact I was crying with joy. I felt like the entire universe has finally been lifted off my shoulders.
The whole process of the year-end inventory baffles me. When it was finally submitted to the court the clerk had issues with 6 debits. We didn’t have receipts because we weren’t smart enough at the beginning of the guardianship to hold onto them. Da Olda Sista wrote checks to herself as opposed to her landlord or her bill holders. We explained all of it to the lawyers who in turn explained it to the clerk of courts. It wasn’t good enough so they scheduled a hearing. There were hundreds of texts between Sista and myself over the last week trying to plan a strategy to explain these things. They were phone calls between her and the Law Talking Guys. We had reached maximum freak out stage yesterday only to have the clerk say “fuck it. It’s cool.” If they had said that three months ago everyone involved could’ve saved massive amounts of aggravation. Trust me though....I am not complaining. I have been telling Da Sista for literally months we would eventually reach a point where all of the heavy lifting is behind us. That point was yesterday. We have been living on the tip of calamity from months upon months. I woke up this morning and still had the overbearing sense of impending doom. I reckon it’s gonna take a little while for me to shake that. That’s cool by me though. I would much rather have to change my thought process than continue to beat my face up against a wall.

sardines martin

I don’t have to go to work today until 2. I’m lying in bed and our gassy hag Maxwell Juniper is next to me. I’m petting her silky fur while she is purring along and gingerly farting. It is a relaxing and smelly moment.

Mom fell down while living with Da Olda Sista in 2021. When Sista got to her she was unresponsive and drooling. Long story short she went to the hospital for a couple weeks but they would not release her back to Da Sista because of her mental condition. She was instead sent to the Unhappiest Place in America. The day she entered the facility is the day the turmoil began for the rest of the family. I did a few days research before deciding and then met with the Law Talking Guys in June 2021. I began a six week process of filling out well over 50 forms and getting at least 10 doctor statements regarding mom‘s health. It was a long and laborious process that I dealt with on my own. It wasn’t until I informed Da Headstrong Sista’s that we had a meeting that either of them knew about this. On August 1 we all met with the Law Guys. Two days later we went to court and were granted guardianship. Younga became a medical guardian while Olda became the financial. Olda and I spent the next five months corralling bank statements and closing accounts from at least seven institutions. We had to drain all of MeMum's money to become eligible for Medicaid. We definitely made some mistakes along the way. In January 2022 Medicaid was granted. We had to continue to print bank statements, talk with lawyers and keep in front of a variety of issues. It seemed like every week something needed our attention. Even though Olda was the financial guardian I handled a large portion of the actual work. Her attitude got worse and worse as things dragged along. I don’t blame her. It’s a ridiculously long and asinine procedure. Some of the people we dealt with at Medicaid should not have jobs. Not just at Meidcaid...they should not employed anywhere. Multiple copies of statements were lost, others gave us ridiculously bad advice. It truly was the definition of a shit show. Repeatedly I would say to her “once we get past this, things will be easier.” There were times when I didn’t believe myself.
I had her gather up all of the necessary bullshit and dropped it off to the lawyers in August of 2022 so they could compile a year-end inventory. It’s basically a collection of a years worth of bank statements and addendum’s explaining where every penny was sent and for what reason. The first year is the hardest because you have to explain spending so much money to become eligible for Medicaid. Murphy’s Law dictates “whatever can go wrong will go wrong“. Years ago I added “and at the worst possible moment“. Between getting the guardianship, Medicaid and the year-end inventory Murphy’s Law has been our lives. By having the inventory approved yesterday all of this horse shit is behind us. We will have to do an inventory for the rest of mom‘s life. Thankfully there are only two debits each month...her facility and the lawyers. The next inventory should be as simple a process one could have whilst still having lawyers involved.

The amount of positivity I had to produce over the last 18 months to match Sista’s negativity has left me exhausted. I am sure she feels the same way. We are both in need of a spiritual oil change. But it’s comforting to know all of the absolutely horrible shit is now behind us. I had a goal for us and we reached it. Mom is safe and secure at her facility. She gets fed every day because of all the hard work we did. I am not officially or legally a guardian but I am taking credit for roughly 79-83% of getting to where we are today. I started in June 2021 by myself. The official journey won’t end until mom‘s passing. I am ridiculously overjoyed to look at the difference between what we’ve done and what we have left to do.

I don’t know what Erica has been feeling this damn cat. She is a stinky little thing.