Re: Frank's still here, although but barely

Your story would make a movie worthwhile watching.

Op zo 19 mei 2019 23:46 schreef <[email protected]>:

> Hi Frank
>
> Back in 2008 we went back to China to find my grandfather's ancestral
> home.
>
> He had left it in 1902 after a drought-led famine drove the adults to send
> their children away.
>
> When we found it, the neighbours allowed us to inspect the house which
> turned out to be a sizable estate, with courtyards, and servants quarters.
>
> They said it hadn't been inhabited for nearly 90 years so we were
> surprised to see that it was in amazingly good condition.
>
> We asked the 80-year old lady who had been looking after it.  She said,
> why, we have been.
>
> But why would you do such a thing?
>
> My grandfather, said the elderly lady, told us to look after it because
> one day you would be back.  He was right, for here you are.
>
> My cousin burst into tears.
>
> We felt guilty that they had spent their own money to keep up the house
> over nearly a century with no guarantee of payment.
>
> We offered to take possession of the house and take up our responsibility.
>
> They said that our grandfather had two siblings who would have a claim
> over the house.  Where were they?
>
> We had no idea.  No contact had been had with them for maybe fifty years
> and no surviving family members had their contact details and we were
> unsure what part of the world they were now.
>
> My father passed away back in 2015.
>
> He didn't hoard throw much away either.
>
> There were stacks of old invoices for utilities going back fifty years.
>
> Alone in the house, being the eldest it fell on me to tidy the estate.
> Like you, no offers from the other siblings to help.
>
> It was tempting to throw them all away but there was a risk that a
> valuable document might be falsely filed in one of the piles of paper.
>
> So I set to work and amongst the power bills of 1972, there was a scrap of
> paper with a Chinese name and a north American telephone number on it.
>
> It dawned on me that with a smartphone in my pocket, I could solve the
> mystery by immediately dialling it.
>
> It turned out to be my father's long lost first cousin and through this
> discovery we have since re-connected with the descendants of both my
> grandfather's siblings.
>
> Cheers
>
> Tony Kan
> Christchurch
> New Zealand
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
> On Behalf Of Gene beaird
> Sent: Monday, May 20, 2019 4:42 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [NTLK] Frank's still here, although but barely
>
> Frank,
>
> Hang in there!  There IS light at the end of the tunnel.  I ‘enjoyed’
> disposing of my parent’s estate after my Dad suddenly passed while visiting
> his siblings out of state.  While not a hoarder, he didn’t throw much
> away.  We had a 8-place dining room table in his house that was under 2
> feet of old mail.  A dumpster took care of most of that, then the estate
> sale fixed the rest.  After the house was emptied, we spent money getting
> it completely repainted, and new flooring installed on the first floor.  We
> still got almost nothing for the place.  Although it was big, it was the
> biggest house in a neighborhood of small houses, so that bit us hard.
>
> But as others have said, take care of yourself first!!  And it’s not a sin
> to take a day off from it every now and then.  That process is not a
> sprint, it’s a marathon, so don’t knock yourself out up front.
>
> Regards,
>
> Gene Beaird,
> Pearland, Texas
>
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