I know I've said it before but it bears repeating: thanks again to everyone here for all your kindness and support. It really does mean a lot and as always I'm continually impressed by the level of camaraderie and genuine goodwill that prevails here. It really is a thing of beauty and everyone involved from Neal on down needs to pat themselves on the back at least once a day for being a part of what makes Subsim the great community that it is.
So... she's in the ground as of this morning, next to dad. I looked at my sister as we were leaving the cemetery and said, "Well, at least we won't have to do
that again."
My brother - who is not on the family's Top Ten Nice Guys list, to make a very long story short - made it in for the service and the thing we were really concerned about was whether or not he was going to be a complete tool about settling the estate (our mother made one of our uncles the executor and gave him power of attorney a few years back specifically to keep our brother from having, or getting, any control over how it was done). So far, it hasn't turned out that way which is both a surprise and a blessing. There are still a lot of things, including the house, that will have to be sold or given away - and certain things that mom specified were to go to certain people - but so far there has been no acrimony over who gets what or whether or not some particular item "means more" to this person or that.
But the sheer enormity of going through everything is just wearing us all out right now. If nothing else it may cure me of any packrat tendencies I may have, good grief that woman kept EVERYTHING. I now have a full record of all the immunizations I received as an infant, so in case anyone was wondering, yes I've had all my shots.
Anyway - thank you all again SO MUCH.