oh, i just have to share this story.
my Nfather is a multimillioinaire several times over. they were paying $35,000.00 a month in mortgage a few years ago. (thirty five thousand a month)
his parents, my grandparents, nice people whose relatives actually did survive the holocaust, (although many of our family died there) moved across the country at his insistence into an apartment that he bought for them.
my grandmother was a classy lady who had been a decorator in manhattan. she has a lot of art and lovely things and her apartment was beautiful.
after several years my grandfather died of cancer. my grandmother expressed repeatedly that her only wish was to remain in her apartment, becuase it made her feel connected to my grandfather, who she loved very much.
they had a lot of beatiful collectibles, antiques and art there that they had collected over many many years, and it was her sanctuary. she had few friends becuase of moving across the country at her age.
well, my father is very rich. not only that, hes a doctor. he could have afforded to keep her in that apartment well taken care of for the entire rest of her life if he wanted to.
but, as soon as my grandfather died, my father sold her apartment, got rid of all her stuf, and forced her into a nursing home, which she had to pay for herself.
she hated it so much there that she checked herself out, and went to live with distant relatives in a tiny house paying for everything herself. he refused to help support her becuase she wouldnt do what he said.
also becase she was being 'difficult' she was supposed to be shunned by the rest of the family and noone was allowed to talk to her or find out how she was doing. i missed her a lot, but there was no way i could get to see her.
she told me that she was saving things for me, collectibles that i remember from when i was a little girl, stories she had written about our family history. she also had quite a bit of high quality jewelry that she wanted myself and my daughter to have.
well..... i havent talked with her for a long long time...... and a few months ago i looked her up on the internet to see if i could find her address. well, there was her obituary.
she died, two years ago.
and my father said NOTHING to any of us. just failed to mention it. and........... not a word was said about anything she saved for me and my daughter. did he take it? what happened to it? its been two years. where is it?
i have no idea what happened to any of her things, photographs, stories, letters...... nobody ever thought to contact me about any of it. im pretty sure that my father found a way to take it, or keep it from us, not that he wants it, but, he doesnt want us to have a connection with her.
that was a pretty stunning and sad thing to find out. if she hadnt given me just a few small things a few years before she died, id have nothing to remember her by at all.
i cant believe he let his own mother (a very nice old yiddish lady) die in poverty two years ago and just pretend like nothing happened. makes me want to puke.
bleagh!!!!
