Saga of the passed MIL continues.....
So now what you ask, could there be more....but of course! Besides the interesting introduction, I got more insight on Rob's family than I could have ever wanted. The weeks following the discovery of a dead future MIL were quite interesting.
After the ambulance guys imparted their wisdom on us, "ummmm, excuse me, but why did you call us? She's been dead for quite some time you know..." OMG, you're kidding? The rubbery rigid dehydrated corpse lying on the floor wasn't your first clue was it? Fuck, I don't know perhaps we should have called the funeral home directly. I mean c'mon we weren't really thinking when we dialed 911 and told them we found a dead person? We aren't the ones that dispatched an ambulance! Give me a break! Anyway, after they left the police showed up. They asked us to wait downstairs in the lobby while the examined the scene. It was CSI Hamilton, before CSI was on TV. So that's what we did. By the time we got down there every poor Senior was in the lounge waiting to give their condolences to the lady in 210's family. They were quick to tell us that Dot was a quiet lady that kept to herself, (dead people tend to do that!)and that they had noticed that she hadn't been leaving the apartment much for a couple of months. Strangely enough the Victorian Order of Nurses office is next door to MIL's apartment and nobody thought to knock and see if they could offer the old bird some assistance. Anyway, while we were down there the Super kindly opened the mailbox and gave us all her mail. 3 months of pension cheques, many notices of disconnect for phone, cable etc. and to top it all off a letter from the Hamilton Housing Authority sayng she was 4 months behind in her rent and if they didn't receive their money she was outta there on Feb 1. Kind of ironic that had we not made the decision to show up on Jan 18th, they would have been the ones to find her and I guess they would have known why she was behind in rent!
Four long hours later the police come downstairs to inform us that the coroner is coming to pick her up. They have decided that an autopsy is required to determine the cause of death (to rule out foul play) and that once the autopsy has been completed we will be free to bury our loved one. So Officer Big Attitude says "ummm excuse me, just so you are aware there are some things in her underwear drawer that you may find very interesting, be sure to check it out before you leave" Things in her underwear drawer???like what? Turns out the lady has been stashing her pension cheques and there are 13 months of both American Social Security (lived and worked in California for many years) and same amount of months for Canadian pension. Total was big bucks! So I ask why was she living in squalor, in subsidized housing? Why did she routinely ask my Father in Law for money? Well according to my poor husband she was "just like that!" The next day when I called her bank and let them know she had passed they were quick to tell me to look for a safety deposit box. I should deposit the cheques in her account then they would lock it down. If we turned in outstanding bills they would pay them for her and they would also pay her funeral expense out of that money, but be sure to find the safety deposit box key! Very intriguing! FIL figured she had a will in there cause that's what the estranged Brother In Law told him along with the fact that he knew that she was leaving everything to him! I really had to put my foot down and tell these two little old men that everything would be settled according to MIL's last wishes and to sit down and stop squabbling!
So I returned to the apartment, alone. Husband and FIL refused to return to the scene! Can't say that I blamed them, but hell I wasn't even remotely related to this woman and I had to go back and go through her personal belongings to find some apparent key. 6 hours of searching led me to the bedroom closet, in the very back, inside a green garbage bag, inside a suitcase, inside another bag, inside a purse inside 3 more bags of various sizes I found the envelope that contained the key! I found many other things that surprised and astounded me. Like the fact that MIL had been married before and had had a son...OMG Rob has a brother...nope that's when I found out Rob was adopted! Wonder if he knows this? Do I tell him? Fuck! This is far too complicated for an outsider! Does FIL know about the previous? He must! Do I say somehting..I mean really should we be letting her son know that his birth mother has died? So many questions! I found other shit that day that led me to wonder about her death, things like a green garbage bag of condoms and literature from a needle exchange program...a green garbage bag full folks! Mind is spinning now, did she have aids? Was she an addict? Did she OD? OMG I couldn't stand it, I had to leave that bad place before I found out more.
The next day I called the bank and informed them that I had found the key. "One key? There should be two. If you don't find the other there will be a $75. charge to replace the lock." Yeah well you're gonna have to replace it cause I ain't searching that hell hole again by myself for another key! Send me the bill! Nice lady on the phone giggles at that one. "Yeah, sounds like Dot, she really was a strange old duck! Strange, that is an understatement! This woman lived like a bag lady, collecting old clothes and stuff from second hand stores, stealing toilet paper from public facilities (I know this cause I found green garbage bags of TP wrapped up like you do when you gotta take some with you just in case, stored in a closet) Her fridge was empty people! And I'm not kidding, it was completely void of anything remotely resembling food! No condiments, no juice, no NOTHING! (except empty plastic bags..cause we wouldn't want to wreck the fridge by having it refrigerate nothing!) Anyway, we make an appointment to go to the bank to open this mysterious SDB. On Friday, I take yet another day off work and haul FIL and his nasty little BIL to the bank. Lady at the bank was very nice and when we open the damn box it is stuffed full of CASH! People I had NEVER seen so many bills in one place, at one time! My MIL was hoarding cash!
Enough for now, will continue tomorrow on the lunch hour....you must be tired...I know I am.
G'night, TTYL
After the ambulance guys imparted their wisdom on us, "ummmm, excuse me, but why did you call us? She's been dead for quite some time you know..." OMG, you're kidding? The rubbery rigid dehydrated corpse lying on the floor wasn't your first clue was it? Fuck, I don't know perhaps we should have called the funeral home directly. I mean c'mon we weren't really thinking when we dialed 911 and told them we found a dead person? We aren't the ones that dispatched an ambulance! Give me a break! Anyway, after they left the police showed up. They asked us to wait downstairs in the lobby while the examined the scene. It was CSI Hamilton, before CSI was on TV. So that's what we did. By the time we got down there every poor Senior was in the lounge waiting to give their condolences to the lady in 210's family. They were quick to tell us that Dot was a quiet lady that kept to herself, (dead people tend to do that!)and that they had noticed that she hadn't been leaving the apartment much for a couple of months. Strangely enough the Victorian Order of Nurses office is next door to MIL's apartment and nobody thought to knock and see if they could offer the old bird some assistance. Anyway, while we were down there the Super kindly opened the mailbox and gave us all her mail. 3 months of pension cheques, many notices of disconnect for phone, cable etc. and to top it all off a letter from the Hamilton Housing Authority sayng she was 4 months behind in her rent and if they didn't receive their money she was outta there on Feb 1. Kind of ironic that had we not made the decision to show up on Jan 18th, they would have been the ones to find her and I guess they would have known why she was behind in rent!
Four long hours later the police come downstairs to inform us that the coroner is coming to pick her up. They have decided that an autopsy is required to determine the cause of death (to rule out foul play) and that once the autopsy has been completed we will be free to bury our loved one. So Officer Big Attitude says "ummm excuse me, just so you are aware there are some things in her underwear drawer that you may find very interesting, be sure to check it out before you leave" Things in her underwear drawer???like what? Turns out the lady has been stashing her pension cheques and there are 13 months of both American Social Security (lived and worked in California for many years) and same amount of months for Canadian pension. Total was big bucks! So I ask why was she living in squalor, in subsidized housing? Why did she routinely ask my Father in Law for money? Well according to my poor husband she was "just like that!" The next day when I called her bank and let them know she had passed they were quick to tell me to look for a safety deposit box. I should deposit the cheques in her account then they would lock it down. If we turned in outstanding bills they would pay them for her and they would also pay her funeral expense out of that money, but be sure to find the safety deposit box key! Very intriguing! FIL figured she had a will in there cause that's what the estranged Brother In Law told him along with the fact that he knew that she was leaving everything to him! I really had to put my foot down and tell these two little old men that everything would be settled according to MIL's last wishes and to sit down and stop squabbling!
So I returned to the apartment, alone. Husband and FIL refused to return to the scene! Can't say that I blamed them, but hell I wasn't even remotely related to this woman and I had to go back and go through her personal belongings to find some apparent key. 6 hours of searching led me to the bedroom closet, in the very back, inside a green garbage bag, inside a suitcase, inside another bag, inside a purse inside 3 more bags of various sizes I found the envelope that contained the key! I found many other things that surprised and astounded me. Like the fact that MIL had been married before and had had a son...OMG Rob has a brother...nope that's when I found out Rob was adopted! Wonder if he knows this? Do I tell him? Fuck! This is far too complicated for an outsider! Does FIL know about the previous? He must! Do I say somehting..I mean really should we be letting her son know that his birth mother has died? So many questions! I found other shit that day that led me to wonder about her death, things like a green garbage bag of condoms and literature from a needle exchange program...a green garbage bag full folks! Mind is spinning now, did she have aids? Was she an addict? Did she OD? OMG I couldn't stand it, I had to leave that bad place before I found out more.
The next day I called the bank and informed them that I had found the key. "One key? There should be two. If you don't find the other there will be a $75. charge to replace the lock." Yeah well you're gonna have to replace it cause I ain't searching that hell hole again by myself for another key! Send me the bill! Nice lady on the phone giggles at that one. "Yeah, sounds like Dot, she really was a strange old duck! Strange, that is an understatement! This woman lived like a bag lady, collecting old clothes and stuff from second hand stores, stealing toilet paper from public facilities (I know this cause I found green garbage bags of TP wrapped up like you do when you gotta take some with you just in case, stored in a closet) Her fridge was empty people! And I'm not kidding, it was completely void of anything remotely resembling food! No condiments, no juice, no NOTHING! (except empty plastic bags..cause we wouldn't want to wreck the fridge by having it refrigerate nothing!) Anyway, we make an appointment to go to the bank to open this mysterious SDB. On Friday, I take yet another day off work and haul FIL and his nasty little BIL to the bank. Lady at the bank was very nice and when we open the damn box it is stuffed full of CASH! People I had NEVER seen so many bills in one place, at one time! My MIL was hoarding cash!
Enough for now, will continue tomorrow on the lunch hour....you must be tired...I know I am.
G'night, TTYL
posted by Anonymous at 1:18 am
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