Miles to Go...

Still so much to be done... actually, most of the hard stuff. We've really only just barely begun to deal with this. I will have to come back several times to get through it all.

But there is a possible ray of light at the end of the tunnel. It turns out that there may have been one successful moment of estate planning that means that my siblings and I will see a small portion of family legacy after all. And it may be that this can be realized before my father dies, without in any way being a detriment to providing for and ensuring his well-being and comfort for the rest of his days.

It might, for example, mean that I could afford to become a full-time student.

The very possibility turns this work from being an utterly thankless burden into one that may have some actual material benefit associated with it. And, crass creature that I am, it makes these relentless, enormous, emotionally and physically exhausting set of tasks just a wee bit less catastrophically unpleasant.

Not much less, but a little less. And I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am for that narrow sliver of daylight.