Woo Hoo

I'd been having a nasty week. First off, the optometrist said my corneas had some inclusion thingies that would turn into ulcers if I didn't take a break from contacts and wear my stratchy old glasses that I can't even read with. Then, while wearing said glasses (I think I sense a connection here) I slammed my finger in the car door. Shut and latched, folks. It hurt. Interesting side note - I actually went into shock from the pain: sweating profusely, dizzy, nauseated, white as a sheet. But I managed to drive myself to Walgreens and get a band-aid, then go interview my mental committal clients before going home and getting some ice. Finally, when at the hearing the next day on those mental committals, I was told one of them probably had Hepatitus A and I should wash my hands and call back later to see if I needed interglobin.

As many of you already know, I'm already having a rather stressful time with having way too many projects. As a matter of fact, I laugh when I see those wedding shows on TV with some Bridezilla complaining that the wedding has gotten her stress level "up to a nine" - I use wedding planning as the fun to distract me from the rest of the stuff; the only stress involved there is meeting deadlines to get things done so I don't have to walk down the aisle in my underwear or something.

No, my biggest two stressors have been handling my Dad's estate and . . . moving. We were told in April that the college had decided to divest itself of all non-contiguous property, including the "faculty housing" house we're living in. We are to move out when our lease was up at the end of June. Do the math: Wedding July 26th, moving June 30th. Good luck with that. In college, this wouldn't have been a problem. I could move an apartment and set it up again in a single day, without renting a moving van. With all the furniture that comes with being a grown-up, however, this becomes a two-month ordeal between packing, moving, and unpacking. Add that to wedding planning, and you get insanity.

As far as the estate goes, I've had to battle one of my siblings on everything. Basically, my dad had more debts than assets which means the lot has to be liquidated, though we can use some of the proceeds to pay for the funeral and headstone. There are many sub-issues, but it all comes down to that. This sibling has accused me of not knowing the law, of trying to liquidate the stuff only because I'm going to charge some outrageous legal fee (and so I'm trying to hock precious memories for my own filthy lucre), of being on the creditor's "side" because I was actually contemplating notifying them instead of adopting the "we can wait and see if they figure out he's dead and whether they want to bother to come after his stuff" approach. IMHO, considering the two major creditors are the IRS and Medicaid, that's a really, really stupid idea. This sibling has threatened to turn in ethics complaints against my law license, has libeled me to the rest of the family and to anyone from the legal profession who will listen, and has said some things that are beyond vicious. Worst of all, it's like negative campaigning: when enough of that sh*t gets repeated, people start to believe there's a grain of truth at the bottom of it somewhere.

BUT

My luck appears to be changing. As of Wednesday:

1) I didn't actually break my finger (Woo Hoo). Now, if I can just save the fingernail for the wedding. Yep, I'm superficial like that. I want a nice manicure.

2) I don't have Hep-A, the client's tests were negative.

3) My other two siblings have had a recent eye-opening experience with the troublemaking one, which combined with the fact that I personally sprang for an unbiased opinion from outside counsel expert in estate law, has convinced them that maybe I've been telling the truth about this stuff and actually might know a thing or two about the law from those three years at law school. They're now in agreement with me that we have to get the stuff sold and finish this out. It's their opinion that if any sibling doesn't agree, I get to dump all the job of doing it on them along with all the stuff. All I'd have to do is find an iron-clad way to hand it off so I'm not liable for my sibling's screw-ups, and I'm out of it. (Presuming that's possible. I'm going to consult with the estate expert to ensure I don't get screwed). NOTE: Yes, I'm aware I can use the courts to enforce the right to get the stuff and sell it. However, the estate is tiny and there are no probatable assets, so the advantages of filing and using the court's power are probably outweighed by the time and cost of probate. Unless I can't hand it off without residual liability. Then 'public' opinion be damned, I'm keeping the job and going through the courts.

4) D spoke with the college, and they've decided to give us an additional year renting the house. WE DON'T HAVE TO MOVE.

So it seems that other than a meeting scheduled for Monday with all my siblings and whatever comes out of that, I might have culled my non-work tasks down to planning the wedding and other stress-free stuff.

Woo hoo!!! (Knocks on wood a gagillion times to keep this from all falling through). Speaking of wedding - would any theater friends kindly respond to my opinion poll? And thanks, Stef, for doing so - you will be getting an invite of one variety or the other. Email me your new address, I'm so sorry I couldn't help you move (see above for why).