You have to read what Cop Car has to say about her "quilting" room. I was so into that post that I left a book-long response, and it seems that I have more to say about it.
I think, Cop Car, that we are simply in a season of our lives when organization becomes important. I keep thinking that I don't want to leave confusion for others to deal with, but as I work my way through things here, I'm discovering the pleasures of living a simpler life.
Cop Car sent me a note one day about her Durable Power of Attorney. We've been talking about the need to organize our personal estates, and should the worst happen, Dear Husband and I do NOT wish to be maintained by machines. It was time for us to get some legal documents in place. We made an appointment to see a lawyer, and visited with her last Monday.
It turns out that estate law has changed so much that our wills, which were made out in 1992, are out of date. We are switching to Revocable Trusts, which will include living wills. As she explained it, a Revocable Trust side steps the need to go through probate court. Once we have completed our own paperwork, I'll have to talk with my mother about the possibility of doing the same thing for her.
Once everything is in place, and all the old files have been cleaned out, I know I'll feel more light-hearted. I like the idea of paring down, and letting the family antiques shine. I still have to decide what to do about an overflow of books, and our CDs, but I'm making headway!
Comments (1)
Buffy, there is a difference between having a confusion of something and its being disorganized. (Don't ask me what it is, though--my mind is so disorganized that I'm too confused to think!) I absolutely agree with you that, on anything that matters, one needs to leave an organized confusion to ones heirs. I need to sort through old letters, old photographs, old stuff that the kids would feel honor-bound to "do something" with; but, when it comes to the fabrics, a disorganized confusion is probably sufficient. They'll just burn it all, anyhow, I suspect (heck--in their places, I'd do!) Fortunately for me, the task of "taking care of" my stuff will fall to Hunky Husband. He'll just box up all my stuff and send it to the dump or the DAV (hopefully, salvaging the jewelry for the kids...but...who knows?) Taking care of HH's stuff, will be the tasking they will face. Gahhhhh!
Good for you in updating your wills. Wish I could get HH to do so, but he is adamant that nothing is wrong with our old ones--drawn up when the kids were small, before our divorce. He says that a lawyer told him his will was still valid, a few years ago. If I knew a good lawyer, I'd go by myself; but, the lawyers that I know are pretty unimpressive. Fortunately, nearly everything (hopefully, all the finances) that I own have someone else's name on them (either as joint or as pay upon death) and will not need to go through probate.
BTW: In getting back to HH's Afghan quilt, I found that I had forgotten the easy way of making the 1/4-square pieced units for another traveling star--just like the first--until I had tried a wrong way or two, first. I had only decided to do a second traveling star because I had inadvertently cut too many of the 1/2-square pieced units. Now I have extra pieces all over the place--lol. Four more seams (plus pressing) and the second traveling star will be completed.
Posted by Cop Car | March 27, 2006 10:09 AM
Posted on March 27, 2006 10:09