My time has come to a close

As I wrap up my time here in Texas, I have a few final thoughts about this unraveling (and that truly has been the operative term here) of my deceased Uncle's estate. First off, what has come to the fore is that my father and I approach this process differently than my cousin. The forefront of our motivation is that we are here to settle the estate of my Uncle. Creditors get paid off, promises kept and laws get followed to the letter. In my mind, and what has caused some tension between myself and my cousin, is that he and his half-sister are here for asset preservation. Each time I declare a check should be written (and remember I can only voice my opinion as I have no legal power to write checks in this instance) I have been reminded that I am "writing a check out of (their) pockets."

I've also been given further proof of the practice of dealing with problems and affairs as they become known. How much of the pain and work that we are dealing with here is a function of my Uncle just not addressing issues right away. Fines and judgments galore here because he simply didn't pay things (or in many cases probably didn't have the funds to pay his bills). Also, how many lawyers could one person need and deal with at the same time?

On a personal front, I have come to realize that we are really products of our fathers and parents. More often than not, how I respond to a situation is pretty much the same way my father answers. I approach things the same way he does. Cut no corners, honor your commitments and say what you mean. I have watched my Dad deal with this really, really stressful and complicated situation with great calm (ok MOST of the time, it's my Dad remember) but his management of people is something I've never actually seen in action before. I've had to rein him in on some tendencies to want to micromanage people, but overall, he's been great. I'm proud of him.

In addition, I've learned how having financial security as a child and throughout life alters the way you approach the world. It's not that money can buy me anything, but its having the ability to not have to shortchange people or to be able to pay in full right up front. The ability to do so makes life a lot easier and more pleasant.

Now that I'm finishing up service to the family, I'm going to fly to New Orleans to spend a week doing relief work in St. Bernard Parish, east of the city. I need to do some physical labor after having sat around here for the last three weeks.

Thank You to the Staff of American Eagle in.....

Fayetteville/Bentonville, AR. That's where my lost bag turned up. I got a call this past Monday from my branch of Bank of America to call a woman named Diane C. with an area code of 479. I know my area codes, but this one was a new one to even me. I called the woman and end up talking to a man there named Dave who says that the American Eagle at XNA (Northwest Arkansas) has had my unmarked bag for a couple weeks. They searched through my bag and found the teller receipt for a $500 withdrawal I had made at my local branch because I knew I was going to need some petty cash here in Texas and wasn't sure when my cash card would arrive. I put the cash and receipt inside my bag and that was the only piece of identification inside my bag.

The agents in Arkansas convinced their local Bank of America to contact my branch and have my branch call me to have me contact the agents in Arkansas. I did and Dave didn't feel comfortable with putting the cash back in the bag. He therefore was willing to take the cash and turn it into a money order and stuck it back in the bag. The bag was then expedited on the first flight out of Arkansas back to DFW where I picked it up the next morning. I am still amazed at the good in people and how this worked out. These wonderful people will be getting a huge gift sent from me when I return to San Francisco.

For those of you keeping track, this is the second time my camera has been lost and returned to me. The first time was last year in Panama, when I left my camera in the car of a couple that gave me a ride. They tracked me down because they called Continental Airlines because the couple and I had sat next to each other on the plane flight down. My camera is now on the third of its nine lives.