2024 Year in Review - Crazy year - Seniors - Cats - Estates - Hard Work

Who knew getting old was this much work! Now I know why people retire at 65, because one must take care of their aging parents and pets, file for social security, find new insurance, sell real estate and basically set up one's future so you can ease into it! I've yet to see the easing but the summation of this past year has been "one thing after another" but there is always a silver lining as so many people have come to my rescue this year!

The first few months of 2024 started pretty calmly and then snowballed into a complete nightmare. My husband was living in Tennessee caring for his 93 year old father and everything that could break at our house in Virginia did. We're big DYIers and rarely hire anyone because often it does not turn out like it should. In early Spring the power went out and I was hauling in wood for the stove. Things calmed down and were going along pretty well until the grass started growing. The belt on the lawn mower broke. I had someone tell me they were coming several times to replace it and never did so the grass kept growing - a lot! I had to find someone to mow the lawn which was a bit of a disaster. A kind gentleman showed up with a push mower for 2 acres. After 6 hours, 3 stop and start rains and the sun beginning to set, I let him go and there was still 1 acre left to mow! Retrospectively it seems like such an easy thing to work out but everyone already has mowing commitments and it was impossible to find someone urgently over Memorial Day weekend. 

During that time the water heater began to leak and the compressor on the Heat and Air broke. Next up was opening the pool which was totally not doable by myself. I don't even remember what else happened but I was bailing in a boat, sinking in a swamp -- totally losing it. Finally we decided enough was enough and it was time to either get divorced or move my father-in-law in with us. Of course he did not want to leave his home and that was another hurdle. We ended up proposing a 2 week vacation which at least got him willingly out of his house. It was frightening driving him 6 hours but we did make several stops (one being ice cream) and it went smoothly. After being at our house for 3 days, he told us he wanted to live with us and to sell his house. We all cried!

Bob is very little trouble and still gets around but can't be left alone. The biggest responsibility is that I have been managing his home located out of state. We discovered there was no insurance on the house! The first trip to check on this house was intense. I had a long list of tasks to accomplish to list his house with a realtor. The heat and air was not working when I arrived. A lot of time was wasted hiring a disreputable company that ripped me off straight away (my worst google review of 2024) but I did find a great company to fix it and also found a wonderful tree cutter who did an excellent job. My Aunt who lives nearby helped me and supplied FOOD so I ended up enjoying my time with her and the wonderful realtor that brought me coffee to seal the deal. Brittney Riddell has helped me in so many ways, letting people into the house to buy items and picking me up after selling Bob's car at Carmax. During the horrible rain that nearly wiped out Asheville several bridges were washed away near Bob's house. When the realtor finally could even get to the house she had to bail out the crawl space. A neighbor of Bob's has also helped me greatly, coming to my rescue many times! I am so thankful these angels dropped into my life.

To add more drama, when Bob found out that I was at his house he got angry that I did not take him with me and went on a hunger strike. After a week of preparing his house to sell; hiring an assortment of companies while cleaning, painting, selling items online, gardening, stuffing my car full and general craziness I was told Bob was at the ER. I was driving home and my husband called saying his Dad passed out from not eating. Luckily the home health care worker caught him. So I drove 6 hours to Virginia straight into the ER. Talk about exhausted. He remained in the hospital for observation for 3 days. 

After moving Bob to Virginia we had to transfer his Veterans healthcare which amounted to wiping the slate and starting all over. Setting up medical care, prescriptions, and home health care. The VA has some great benefits but the systems takes time and persistence to set up through the Richmond office. They have a wonderful VA Clinic in Charlottesville and after a few months we were assigned a geriatric doctor that comes straight to the house! He also hooked Bob up to a local day care program at JABA which he really enjoys. They have qualified caregivers, live music, meals, and programs to keep him active. He was even dancing the other day which we never thought we would see given the doctors said he would not make it through the year! Also through the VA we have home health care come several days a week to assist him.

The icing on the cake was my year end deadline to finalize my friend's estate that I've been working on since 2023. I really thought I could complete this process alone, but the complexity of her brokerage account financial statements got me in the end. No unsurmountable issues until the accounting struck. In the end I wanted to blow my brains out. I consulted with an accountant, watched tons of videos, and even attended an online Q and A session. I did everything imaginable but still could not balance the financials. How hard could it be? It's just MATH! I like math. It drove me to near insanity and finally with a week left in 2024 (after searching for a week), I found a CPA and handed my completed accounting over and ran screaming into the night. It was like giving up a child. I had invested so much time and energy into this. Apparently this last step is a beast and very few accountants will fool with it. I'm ending the year sweating as I've not heard that she has been successful. I hope she can find the error!

Another side project that I've been working on since the Summer is getting free solar panels installed. It is a pilot program through our local energy company and LEAP that ended in 2024 so the clock was ticking! They were turned on 12/23. It's a basic system and we'll only see 1/4 - 1/2 of our usage covered but I've been committed to solar for a very long time. It's a pretty exciting moment for me and a positive way to end a year of chaos and trauma. This is my annual environmental commitment that will last for 30 years! We'll be in our 90's when they pull the plug if we make it that long.

My mother has been living with us for 4 years now. She is still very independent and has her regular weekly drive route that she navigates safely. We volunteer for Friends of the Library and she mainly watches the chaos from afar. We upgraded her tablet at Christmas so she is amazingly tech savvy at 89. She also helps me package items for my online selling sites and it's a mystery how I continued to sell through thick and thin and had the best year ever.

In the Spring I discovered my long time vet had retired and had not been happy with the vet staff for some time so I switched my 3 aging cats to a new clinic. A frightening process but the staff is kind and the vet is excellent. Our cats have arthritis, 2 are on blood pressure meds, one has IBS, another is hyper-thyroid. $$$$. We have reminder alarms for pill management going off morning, noon, and night for people and cats!

Anthony ran into a technicality at the first of the year with his job working out of state and eventually had to retire a year earlier than planned. He finalized his Medicare and social security and will collect his first check January 2025. Because I'm not retirement age I had to search for private health and dental insurance. Adding another duty to the roster. We also have an insurance angel that helps our entire household. Thank goodness for Mr. Trout.

Being "the year of Bob", we ended it with getting him a Virginia license that allowed him to vote and get a fishing license. He really wants to get out this Spring by a Lake! 

Without the help of several key people, I don't believe I would be sitting here typing this. here were some kind souls that really bailed me out!

The happiest new year to all and keep the faith. Day by day, hour by hour, keep plugging. This too will pass, and it did, 2024 is toast!

~Rebecca