Tuesday

Busy day here at the office. Welcome to post-Summer reality.

A very interesting article appeared in the weekend edition of the WSJ written by a surviving daughter about her deceased Mother's "secret life", of sorts. The mother died in 2005 of cancer at age 60. The mother must have had a little money, and the daughter (and her sister) had enough money to frequently travel to Tucson to assist their sick mother. The girls became aware of the mother's addiction to eBay during her illness when Mom had them access her eBay account and monitor purchasing activities.

The mother, later in her life, became a collector of Venetian glass. (I remember a James Bond movie with some scenes shot in a Venetian glass factory, but my attention was on the Bond Girls, not the glass.) Anyway, the gist of the story was that the daughter got to know a lot about her mother, after her death, by sifting through the emails, purchase histories, and other documentation associated with Mom's glass collection.

Having taken care of my own Mother in the last years of her life, I am not surprised anymore by the testimonials of an adult child who learns unexpected things about a deceased parent when sorting through the departed's possessions. There are usually stories. Not all necessarily favorable.

The Venetian glass story does bring into play modern day technology. Computer files. Passwords. The generation of Boomers has jumped onto the Internet to do their banking, make their travel plans, and correspond with their progeny. Maybe those often recommended Powers of Attorney for Health, and the DNR orders, need addenda to spell out applicable computer passwords.

When the time comes to pick over my bones, don't read too much into the stray possessions which I failed to toss. I've got letters from old girlfriends. Stories (poorly written, I'm sure) from decades ago. A few knick knacks from different times in my life. Once I'm gone, they should go too.

My pal Bill is under orders to re-format the hard drive of my computer. After everyone has printed their collector editions of 4000 Days.

1 had her first day of school today. Good luck in Year 2!

BCOT