Also, we discovered a super secret safe in the floor of a super secret closet behind the basement, containing stock certificates and a giant wad of $100 bills. We are MORE than ready to get off this Mister Toad's Wild Ride whipsawing us between howling grief and ridiculousness and Hardy Boys mystery drama, anytime at all.

Holy cow, I guess so! I hope the rest of everything runs as smoothly as possible.

Talking about picking out the casket reminds me of my mother and grandmother going to make the arrangements for my grandfather, and every question the funeral home people asked, their answer was, "We want the cheapest!" (There were no wads of bills in the family.) When they got back in the car, they cracked up thinking that funeral home people must have thought they didn't like him much. And then cried, of course, because they did.

Oh love. I'm sorry for the whiplash, because it is exhausting to travel back & forth. After, I can see how it can help to propel forward: emotions, etc, but man.

Also: Bless David, so much, because Matilda has been a complete slug and it's making us both nuts and I had a completely different plan for this morning involving dragging her up and out and making her actually do stuff instead of flumping around. But the second my middle brother called to say he had an appointment to pick out the casket and should he come get me or go alone? David insisted that was it, I should get dressed and let him pick me up because he couldn't do that alone and Matilda's flumpitude would be dealt with one way or another but I was not to consider it a priority at all. The only imaginable priorities were middle brother's mental and emotional health and my desire to support him, full stop.

So, bless him forever.

{{{{{{{JZ}}}}}}}}

He's a good Hec. I'm of the firm opinion that you should keep him.

Oh, JZ. I wish I could be there for you. This next part is no easier than the last.

Also, we discovered a super secret safe in the floor of a super secret closet behind the basement, containing stock certificates and a giant wad of $100 bills. We are MORE than ready to get off this Mister Toad's Wild Ride whipsawing us between howling grief and ridiculousness and Hardy Boys mystery drama, anytime at all.

Is it terrible that I literally laughed out loud at this? I am fairly certain that my sister and I will find ourselves in the same situation when our father goes. We know where the family safe is, but we also know there are other hiding spots, which will require us to go through every drawer and closet as well as moving the dropped ceiling tiles in the basement. That's just the house. Who knows what's at the restaurant?

esse, so good to see you!

Take care of yourselves. We are all dealing with major disruption, even if we're used to working from home. I'm trying really hard not to beat myself up about doing the deep clean and decluttering that really needs to be done. Most nights it takes all I've got to watch the shows clogging up my DVR.

Chag pesach sameach. I'm sorry this Passover is a little off and you can't be with your loved ones.

My mother went through that when my grandmother died, because my grandmother didn't know anything about the finances, and so didn't know about the places my grandfather had stashed stuff.

Is it terrible that I literally laughed out loud at this? I am fairly certain that my sister and I will find ourselves in the same situation when our father goes. We know where the family safe is, but we also know there are other hiding spots, which will require us to go through every drawer and closet as well as moving the dropped ceiling tiles in the basement. That's just the house. Who knows what's at the restaurant?

It is not terrible, or at least we're both terrible together. I'll write a more detailed narrative up later, including how my middle brother stumbled on the combination to the safe, but pretty much whatever you are imagining is likely pretty accurate. Middle brother kept describing it as "his drug money."

(Spoiler: It was not actually his drug money. It was his "what if Trump crashes the entire world economy, because he could totally do that; he's the do that guy" money.)

Also, we discovered a super secret safe in the floor of a super secret closet behind the basement, containing stock certificates and a giant wad of $100 bills.

I hope that you're not offended, but I really want to make a joke about the mafia casket and the wad of cash :)

I'll tell my dad to look out for yours. I firmly believe that he's like a VP of Heaven now, perhaps St. Peter's XO.

If anyone has a nice non-shooty game that I could play on my laptop without spending a ton of money, I would welcome recommendations!

Seconding esse's rec of Stardew Valley - I have it on PC and on tablet. It's very soothing, though it can also exacerbate my ADHD/hyperfixation if I'm not careful. Though, these days, being hyperfixated on something soothing is kind of nice.

{{{{{JZ}}}}}