Let It Be

For the past 11 months, since Harry's beloved father passed away, I have lived with the ensuing (maybe that is en-sue-ing) family drama that has unfolded. I feel sometimes as though I could just scream and often, Guinness gets an extra long walk with me half-dragging him home.

I just cannot get it through my head how a family can crumble in one year. All over money, really. I have tried to weigh each sides viewpoints. My father-in-laws accountant put it most succinctly; that Harry's sister, who is the trustee and the source of all of the angst, has done what in her mind is legally right, but has not done what is right for the family. When you shut down and become secretive, you spread the seeds that will grow into suspicion and mistrust. When you fire your cousins who have worked for your father for over 30 years, and you sue your remaining uncle who was your father's lifetime business partner and best friend, and cannot explain your actions, you create a rift as large as the San Andreas Fault. And what happens when that uncle dies suddenly during this past year? The last year of his life is tainted with a family rift that could have never been expected. Harry's father was a lovely man, and the pain that I feel is that he would have been so deeply hurt by the way this year has unfolded. He expected the highest ethics from people, but I think he also believed that ethics without humanity are wasted.

Thank you my sister, Mary Beth, for doing the job of executor for our parents estate for no compensation other than a set of Christmas dishes that we gave you. Even if the estate had been of the magnitude as Harry's father, I believe you would have done the job the same way. How did I get so lucky, to have such loving, sane, ethical, caring siblings??