She nodded. “I need to check on the cookies, before the little heathens burn the house down.” She got up and walked back to the kitchen, and we spent a couple of hours working out the details of how things would change. It was the right thing to do, but that didn’t make it any easier.
* * *
I explained the issues to my project manager, and promised I’d put in whatever hours I could for the next week, but I’d likely miss any meetings, and be unavailable much of the time. He was a good guy, and assured me there was still plenty of time to finish my sections of the code before integration and wished me luck.
We hired some day laborers outside the diner on Main Street where they gathered. Adam had plenty of time on his hands, since he’d retired three months earlier. He was still working part-time, but only around 20 hours a week, and would often show up late afternoon, to help wherever he could.
Those first couple of days after the funeral, Alice stayed with us while she and Kate handled things at home, packing with the help of some friends and hired help. I, Adam, and our workers started at Grandma’s, moving things, clearing out bedrooms, a study, and starting in the attic. We had the kids move in one day, and Alice spent the night at Grandma’s with the kids, while Kate and I worked late into the night.
Kate was incredibly appreciative of my sacrifice, no matter how hard I tried to convince her I wanted to do it. The bed got a workout, with the house empty, and we even got a couple of quickies the next morning. Taking apart our bed was an emotional experience, and we made a special trip just for that, reassembling it in the biggest guest bedroom where it barely fit. We talked about changes to the house, adding an extra room, along with a full bathroom, so we could be comfortable. The thought of sharing a bathroom with the kids for the next dozen years wasn’t acceptable.
It took three days to get us moved in, and the house was constantly in turmoil. Grandma mostly stayed out of the way, quiet and often confused. She was having a difficult time, and she wasn’t all there most of the time. Mornings were bad when she first woke up, seemingly lost. It was painful to see.
We didn’t want to rent our house out until after the new school year started in three months. That way we could keep the kids in the same schools. It made finances a little tight. Grandpa’s will helped a good bit. Grandma got most everything, of course. But we found out a little about how much he had stashed away from selling the land.
He was a smart old coot, and had managed to invest wisely, including getting a piece of the management company that purchased most of the acreage. They had a steady income, their social security, and over three million left off the sale of the property. I had no idea. It turned out the land sold for seven million, along with ten percent of the management company that operated the shopping center that covered sixteen acres of the land sold.
Kate and Alice each received two hundred grand. The will had been recently updated, and Hailey was responsible for Grandma’s keep, with full access to all their money. When Kate and I told them we’d be using a part of her inheritance to update the old house, and add a new Master bedroom suite, Kate’s mother insisted that the family money would pay for it. I lost that argument.
We had quotes in two days, and a building crew on site by the end of the week. Things still were hectic around the old place, but most of that was outdoors, and inside we started to calm down.
Their basement was an outdated cluttered space, but it was enough for me to be able to put in an office, and get some work done. Those were long days for me. Nearly three weeks of working odd hours, staying up late, laboring around the house, and getting things settled in.
The kids seemed to take the move the easiest. They loved their new rooms, the big property, and the fact that they were right next door to the park. We were all surprised when the kids asked why they couldn’t go to the school right there, rather than have to be driven to school every morning.
What they said made sense. Bob would be going to middle school the next year, and Hailey was just starting. There would be no upheaval for them. Adam was torn between leaving his friends, and starting anew, but after a couple of weeks in the new house and hanging out at the park, he had brand new ‘best’ friends, and was willing to make the change. That made our lives easier and we put the old house up for sale.
We’ve always encouraged summer programs, and to help the kids deal with all the changes, we spoiled them terribly. Young Hailey got signed up for Horse-riding Camp. Eight weeks of riding, which might be followed up with Advanced camp if she wanted. Bob was enrolled in football camp, having played since second grade. He was never going to be a monster, size wasn’t one of our family’s traits, but the boy was lightning fast.
Young Adam got his way with swimming camp, the most onerous of all, and by far the longest lasting, covering the entire summer and costing an arm and a leg. Fortunately, we were able to find families to carpool with. Adam, we paid $25 a week to get picked up and dropped off, with a family that had three kids attending the swimming camp. I don’t know how they could afford it. For Hailey and Bob, we shared the driving, with Kate having drop off duty twice a week, while I did the picking up an equal number of times.
It was obvious that Grandma did best when the kids were around. They kept her busy, and she somehow seemed to remember best in their presence. That was the worst part of the kids activities, with all three of them gone most mornings until early afternoon. It was when the house was empty, and it was just me and her, that she would get lost sometimes.
It made me feel a little bad. Like I didn’t matter as much, I guess. I know that’s unreasonable, and I didn’t blame her, but it’s how I felt. I tried to spend some time with her, make sure she ate lunch, and kept her company while she did the laundry. Helped her find things she’d misplaced.