Life's Full Circle
I have been receiving updates on my aging Grandmother who lives 5+ hours away from my Mom (who calls her daily). My Grandmother (widowed) is in her late 80's and has just recently been placed in an assisted care facility/hospice. She does not like it one bit, even though there is 24 hour care for her. She has been complaining about the food, staff, and she is angry that she won't be able to spend the last days of her life at her own home.
My Mom, and her 3 other brothers realized that since has already fallen at home and was lying on the floor for several hours, the care center was in her best interest. This place costs $10,000 a month and this will essentially wipe out the rest of her savings/inheritance that she had. My Grandfather passed away a few years ago and left her with over $200,000. We recently found out that a family member who was supposed to be taking care of my Grandmother stole it because she could no longer see enough to deposit checks, and monitor her banking account. Turns out, this family member has a SERIOUS gambling issue, and the local casino had leaked to the local press that that person came into the casino and lost $20,000 in one night, For the last 10 years, this has been kept a secret, but now my family is considering filing charges against that individual for theft, This has caused brothers and sisters to argue, and threaten, caused one person a stroke and a bought with depression, and everything is spiraling downward.
My mom is a basket case dealing with the mess from afar, so she and I will be visiting my Grandmother in person, because we fear that this may affect her too much, and she won't recover from it. I am in my late 40's and my Grandmother and I have been close, and I am so saddened at how she has deteriorated over the last 6 months. I try to avoid conflict, so I am having some anxiety issues even thinking about the family members who have betrayed us.
Death has really haunted my mind. I am fearful that I may die violently, like in a car crash, or very painfully. When I was young, I never thought about dying, but now that I am getting older, and my relatives are passing away, it is never far from my thoughts. I am a Re-born Christian, so I have no fear of where I will end up, it's just getting there that is my deal.
My husband is severely overweight, and I am concerned that he will end up having a heart attack, and die, leaving me alone with my 2 children to take care of alone. He does not take care of himself, and believe that he also has high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. I have been a stay-at-home mom since I was pregnant with our 12 year old, and we do not have any $$ in savings, retirement, or tucked away.
We do own our own e-commerce business, but so far, it basically pays for the costs associated with running it. My husband does earn a $100K salary, but with credit card debt, rent, insurance, and basic day to day necessities, there isn't much left to tuck away.
