Chapter 26 - CHRISTMAS WITHOUT SCORES
Robert died at eighty-six.
At home.
After heart failure.
No hidden codicil.
No final controlling instruction.
His estate had been reviewed openly before his death.
Helen received her share.
Clara received hers.
I received a fixed personal bequest.
Josephine received nothing directly from him.
He wrote:
I have already spent enough years confusing inheritance with love.
Good.
The bequest to me was a box of Arthur’s workshop pencils.
No money.
I kept them.
Helen died three years later.
Her final years included ordinary contact with Josephine.
Not complete forgiveness.
Not estrangement.
When she needed assisted living, Clara became primary contact.
Independent fiduciary handled finances.
No single child controlled everything.
We had learned.
At Christmas, Josephine sometimes hosted.
No mountain of gifts.
No enforced equality either.
Children could receive different things without it becoming a ranking system.
One year my grandson received a bicycle.
His cousin received art supplies.
No one counted prices.
That required more conscious effort than I expected.
Old habits survive in tiny questions:
Did we spend the same?
May you like
Will someone feel less loved?
We learned to ask the children what they wanted instead of making money communicate for us.
