River: State of the Bear: Three months after

[mdlbear]

You have been warned.

Assuming this gets posted on Tuesday, October 12th, it's been three months since Colleen died. Last Tuesday was a year since Mom died. I am perhaps not in nearly as bad shape as I might be. Better than two months ago, I think. I am, however, still some mixture of depressed and grieving, so somewhat further down than my usual chronic mild depression.

Is this the right place to end the cut? Am I leaving too much in the clear? I always have trouble with boundaries.

A lot of things still need doing. Getting Colleen's name off bank accounts. Tracking down online accounts. Tracking down subscriptions. Finding a new executor for my will, and a health care power-of-attorney (which neither of us ever did because we were mutually next-of-kin). Find a lawyer, which we never did either.

Downsizing and moving is a big one. Deciding what to throw out, what to give away, what to move to Seattle, and when. What I can't bear to part with. What to sell, including the expensive and still-good items like the patient lift and her scooter. Scooters. Actually selling things, which I've been putting off for years.

And that's not even counting the stuff in the garage and scattered around the house that hasn't been done since we moved in, in 2017. (Some of which hasn't been looked at since we left the Starport in 2012.) Hanging artwork. Clearing off the workbench and installing lights in the garage. And the unfinished projects, most still hanging around from previous workbenches I never cleared off.

I think another large part of what's going on in my head is that I haven't yet adjusted to my new living situation. I'm splitting my time between Seattle and Freeland, and neither really feels like home right now. Maybe three months isn't long enough? Very little of my Stuff has been moved; I'm still carting a suitcase back and forth every weekend. I haven't put anything on the walls, or in all but two drawers of the huge dresser that once held most of Colleen's clothing while we lived at Rainbow's End.

There's no damned reason why I haven't done the things except that they're very uncomfortable to think about. Which I suppose is my usual reason for not doing things. Some, like selling stuff, are uncomfortable because I've never done them before. (Have I mentioned that I procrastinate? Or did I put that off as well?) I try to at least do one thing every weekend. It would be nice if I could get that up to one thing every day, but don't hold your breath.

I've been drifting -- going down Wikipedia rabbit-holes, re-reading the Foundation series, puttering around with computers (instead of actually, you know, writing code. Or writing much of anything else.) I guess I've been drifting for most of the last three years, but at least a couple of times a day I'd have to stop drifting and do something for Colleen. Now I'm just adrift. Caregiving was a major part of my life, and it's not there anymore -- there's this huge hole I haven't figured out how to fill yet.

Comments

[ellenmillion]

*hugs* Continue to be kind with yourself.

[mdlbear]

hugs I will try. Thank you.

[spiffyvoxel]

You have my sympathy on the business of getting financial accounts changed. Thankfully, my parents kept records of what accounts were current, how much was in them, etc. so after dad passed away we just had to call up the various institutions, find the right department, then find out what we needed to send them to get funds released, accounts changes and so on. My sister ended up pretending to be mum for several of those calls, as mum was still a bit fragile. (It didn't help that we had a major bust-up with our old energy supplier over the final bill, made worse because they addressed all correspondence to my dad despite being told repeatedly that my mum was now in sole charge of the account.)

We ended up disposing of dad's physical belongings in stages, because it would have been too much to do all at once. I took in a lot of his clothes that were barely-used and fitted me, and we gave a load more to charity.

In a sense, I'm still caregiving today, albeit in a much lighter way, helping my mum with various things around the house. Thankfully she is very fit for her age with only mild impairments, but she is taking it easier now, particularly with the gardening. She's happy for me to do with the garden as I see fit once she's no longer in a position to care for it — I'll keep the fruit plants plus those shrubs that provide food and cover for the birds, and prune away the rest.

[jcfiala]

Ooof, yeah, I hear you. My wife was up and down with Leukemia before she passed, and it was a sudden change to no longer have to deal with that... and tracking down the various subscriptions she had to shut them down was some work. Plus, getting my daughter onto my insurance instead of my wife's.

Good luck!