Life goes on in Just in Case

Sometimes it’s just hard to come up with a title, lol.
Things are going fine here. Apparently we had some bad weather last night. I slept through it, so I have no idea how bad it got. I haven’t slept well this week. (Nothing major, just my typical sleep issues.) So, since it was Friday night, and no school or plans early this morning, I took an Advil PM and slept last night. I got a solid 8 hours, and would have loved to have laid there and relaxed and read a little, but two cats were walking all over me, because I’m sure they had been thinking I was dead and they were going to starve to death.
This week brought resolution to a situation that’s been going on for far too long. I don’t remember if I’ve written about it, but I will try and do the short hand version. My aunt and uncle have 6 kids - the oldest is the only girl, the rest are boys. About 5 years ago my uncle’s health began to decline pretty seriously, then he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. They lived in the same home for 45+ years, but it was apparent that they couldn’t care for the house, the land, and Aunt D was struggling to care for Uncle J. They made the hard decision to sell their house and buy a trailer to put on my cousin’s land (their daughter). She had her own business and lived in a small building behind it. She moved in with her parents and cared for them. In the process of the last 5 years, my uncle broke his pelvis, was put in the nursing home (30 minutes or so away, and my cousin brought my aunt there each day to spend the day with him, and my cousin often stayed at night), they lost my uncle, my aunt had several health scares, including having surgery to put her stomach back in the right place. My cousin spent a year fighting cancer herself, which required a hysterectomy, then her fall last year, an ICU stay, surgery for a fractured skull and brain bleed. She lost her business because she couldn’t work for most of the last 3 years. She literally put her life on hold to care for her parents. In a normal family situation, the other 5 (who all have families, good paying jobs, nice homes) would step in and either help physically for the 3 who live nearby, or at least help financially, to pay bills. In this case, it broke the family apart. The 3 who live close claim that their sister tricked them into buying the trailer and putting it on her property so she could keep the trailer. They claim their was money from the sale of their house (that’s a whole other story, they sold it to their granddaughter, but she couldn’t get the VA loan because of the condition of the house, so they took a 2nd mortgage out to fix the house up for her. She paid 70 - 80,000 below value on the house. (Around here, a house like theirs, with 5+ acres would be at least 150,000. She paid less than 80,000. So they barely had enough to pay for the trailer. There was no money. One of the younger brothers lives off, and he has helped tremendously both financially and he comes home as often as he can to help out. The two oldest brothers live less than 10 miles away. One is an electrician and one owns his own construction company. Neither can be bothered to come visit or do anything to help them. They got annoyed when they asked them to do anything around the house. Their sister had to ask one of them for money through the last few years, to pay bills. He sued her for $3500, saying she agreed to pay him back. The 3 local brothers have turned their families against their sister and mom. It breaks my heart. My aunt is 80 and most of her kids and grandkids don’t speak to her. She is truly the kindest lady. The local judge threw the case out, he said it was easy to see that the money was a gift with no consideration of repayment. (My cousin has just started working again, but she has to take my aunt to the doctor often, and my aunt is scared to be by herself at night, so it really limits what she can do. Add to that, my cousin herself is in her 60s and still struggling with affects of her brain injury. She walks with a can, she falls often, her memory is bad, she has no sense of smell, and she has other health issues that aren’t related. She didn’t cheer the decision, she cried. Both of her brothers who were at the court stormed out. She knows that this really isn’t the end. Her younger brother is paying to have cameras put up at the house for security. There has been some messing around their house, and vandalism in one of the back buildings. (Someone took off the new toilet seat and put a torn up one in it’s place. That’s not kids out for jollies.)

OH MY GOSH I JUST HAD A HEART ATTACK!!!! I’m sitting in my chair with the tv on. The back door reflects in the tv. A huge silhouette just showed up in the door. I thought for sure someone was there. Nope, a deer just walked up to check the cats out. I may start breathing again any minute. lol

Anyway, it brought me out of my funk and anger that typing all that other was giving me. At least they don’t have the money hanging over their heads. My parents gave them money to pay some back to him last year when he got so ugly and threatening. (He lives in a gated 2 story house with horses and outbuildings.) I have never told my aunt/cousin that I know. I’m happy my parents were able to help. So the moral of the story, if you have siblings, don’t let money make you stupid. My aunt’s time on Earth is limited. These jack-asses are robbing their children and their grandchildren of knowing an amazing lady. My cousin used to work in the oil field as an engineer, she used to make really good money and took all of her nieces and nephews on trips, took them shopping, she paid for college and trainings for some of them, purchased vehicles for them....and they have turned their back on her. Don’t let that be your family. Don’t let the things that don’t matter prevent you from being with the people who DO matter.