Moving Mom
My mother celebrated her 88th birthday this year. She’s getting old and spindly and last week she had yet ANOTHER fall in the big old Berkeley house. This time she broke her upper arm and cracked a cerebral vertebrae. Yet again, my sister Annie (Saint Anne of Oakland) stepped into the breach and is taking on the administration of her care through Kaiser. After this latest dust up even Mom accedes that she can’t stay in the house anymore. As Annie says, it takes a village to keep Mom going and that village just left town on the 5:15 express. Between the in-home care, two flights of stairs, a 110 year old house with goofy plumbing and who knows what else, the time has come to move her to a board and care home where she can be properly cared for.Just to add the proper degree of spice to this stew, we were informed last week that the bank holding the equity 2nd on the house has decided to freeze the credit line. This due to a 44$ underpayment on our part on the last monthly installment. The bank is using this minor clerical error as a pretext to pull the credit line even though they know damn well that there is a 30% debt to equity ratio on the property. And there’s absolutely no reasoning with these clowns, they want to start foreclosure and that’s all she wrote. So we’re on a crash program to get the house ready for sale and put it on the market. Lucky for all, it’s a unique property in a highly desirable location so we think it’s going to be quickly snapped up. Thank God for small miracles.I know a lot of people agonize when it’s finally time to move their parents to assisted living, but from my perspective this is a good thing for all. Annie will get her life back, my brother Petere won’t have to keep fixing a leaky old wreck of a house and my Mother will have a secure place to live where we won’t have to worry about her getting in trouble with nobody around to help. I look forward to visiting with her once she is settled.Jeremy Myers is the owner of Lyssabeth’s Colorado Springs Wedding Officiants.
