Well, they were both finally put to rest....near the new year....both given funeral service together, and entombed together, under roof, above ground, near my Italian grandparents crypt. My dad was given a Veterans funeral with 5 USAF Airman, two removing and folding flag in to a triangle...and three outside with gun salute and firing, and playing Taps....he was proud of his 22 years served....he reached CMSGT, the highest rank an enlisted man could reach, limited to only around the top 1.25% of all in the USAF...he was buried in his dress blues...right before he died he asked my sister and I to do that...we had to search through his house to find the uniform and his dd214 and medals or ribbons for the uniform....we found everything but the hat, which is never worn by the deceased but set aside on a shoulder....oh well....we found everything else...even his scary and threatening GI Belt if we were bad kids!
. He never ever used it, but my sis and I took it pretty seriously that he would...until we got older and realized he never meant it....he was a Softy deep down inside
We've been living in their house, now our house....It's a small, 1400 sq ft home built in 2022 as their downsized home...on1.1 acres....their big home down the same street was around 3500sq feet under roof including the Florida room and back screened covered porch...they had delusiins of grandeur dreams of their daughters and grandchildren all living under their roof someday....boy were they wrong....when they reached their late 80s they decided it was too big to maintain for dad and too big for mom to clean....they bought that home way way back when Florida homes were cheap.
There is too much stuff in this house....my mom had trouble giving up her nice things that she collected and saved for to buy, over the years...too much came to this small house, the two car garage and shed in back and all the rooms has too much stuff...
My sis and husband and I have been going through it all, looking for financials and bills to pay and all of moms gold jewelry and are keeping things that are memories for us and donating the rest....it is a daunting task.
Then all three of us caught this SUPER FLU...which is not given protection from, in the flu shot....my fever got to 103.5 so I finally went to the emergency clinic....we are all still hacking up gunk and none of us are completely healed yet! This was bad....a really bad flu!!!!
We have some hard decisions to make...do we become Floridians again or stay Mainers? Do we keep the Maine home as a vacation home? Maine is so much cheaper than florida....we can afford to keep the home in Maine and shut it down in the winter and open it in summer and fall...we already own it outright....taxes are low, homeowners insurance is the cheapest in the Nation or close, same with car insurance....Florida insurance is 4 TIMES MORE MONEY! Food is even cheaper in Maine than Florida....
But, my parents left a family trust...we haven't gone through it yet....my older sis is trustee but the burial, funeral, church Mass, getting death certificates and then all of us catching the flu, we haven't had chance to go through it...OH AND MY dad's cat has gotten sick, and we promised to take care of him....he got admitted in to a Veterinary hospital in Gainesville cuz they couldn't save him here...my sis expects it to be thousands, he's spent three days in the hospital....we are suppose to pick him up, today...my sister's cat and dad's cat were adopted together years ago, my parents kept one, my sis kept one...so bringing him to my sister's house with her cat has revived their old friendship...he's a beautiful cat...even all the Veterinary doctors are all commenting how beautiful he is....thank goodness he is going to live!
Anyway, Maine has been our safe place...if shit ever hits the fan, rural Maine is where we want to be...it's such a wonderful place....when you enter the State, there is a Welcome sign that states,
Maine, the way life should be!
Do we rent it out to college students for the winter and take over in the summer, to get the property tax and homeowner's insurance and maintenance paid?
Sheesh....everything is so complicated...
I still have not had a chance to mourn my mom's death cuz dad got so sick just a few days later and all prayers and worries were for him...it was a horrible death too...hard to talk about it....
