June 17, 1999
Dear Everyone:
“Jeannie” had to work last weekend, so we didn’t go
to any movies or even Lunch.
But I did get a number of things done that I’ve been meaning to do for
months.
First, I finally got around to installing a
software product that I had bought to make a
Will.
It’s called WillMaker 7 (again with the spelling thing that
programmers like to do) and it’s really easy to use.
The manual consists of about 78 pages of User Guide and about 450
pages of appendices and legal stuff.
So if you want the background material, it’s there; but you don’t
have to use it if you don’t feel like it.
The software itself, like the manual, is about 10%
programming and 90% Help Files.
You can use it to make a Will, a
Living Will, a
Power of
Attorney and (gulp!)
Final Arrangements. So
far, I’ve only made a Will, and it’s not quite legal yet as I haven’t
actually printed it out and signed it in front of three witnesses.
But I’ll get that done soon enough.
And talk about easy to use!
It’s even easier than
TurboTax
(unsolicited endorsements for both).
You just sit there answering basic questions and the program does
the rest. So much easier
than showing up in a lawyer’s office only to find out that you didn’t
bring half the information you need.
Quick! What’s the
exact date of birth, including year, of all of the members of your
immediate family (not to mention any friends you might want to include)
and their current addresses?
Most of this I could look up in one place or
another, but I had to call Mother on at least one of them.
Addresses are fairly easy, but for birth dates, I had to go back
to all those scraps of information that Mother had kept in the family
Bible. Want to know how much
“Richard” weighed at birth, or how many A’s I got in the second grade?
How about “Frankie’s”
First Communion?
And, most impressive of all, a letter to the American soldiers
travelling through Britain on their way to
World War I,
personally signed by
King George V.
Over the years, as these things came up, Mother
apparently got into the habit of stuffing them into the family Bible.
Then, one Christmas a few years ago, she made me official
custodian of the Bible by the simple act of handing it to me as she came
in through the front door.
It was bulging with all the baby announcement cards (compliments of the
Carnation
Milk Company), baptismal certificates, newspaper clippings, photos,
hospital bills, baby pictures and even a high school graduation diploma.
(In fact, I vaguely remember it having a large rubber band
wrapped around it to hold everything in.)
In an effort to save the Bible (the spine was
beginning to split), I extricated all the bits and pieces and placed
them, more or less in chronological order, into one of those photo
albums that use static electricity to hold the contents in place.
When the question came up last weekend, I had only to pull out
the album and leaf through it until I found such things as “Richard’s”
exact date of birth, along with gender (blue card instead of pink),
weight and length.
The other really important thing I got done last
weekend was to get the car cleaned.
This is another one on my list of things to do that usually gets
put off until next week.
Part of the problem is that darned “cab forward design” that the auto
manufacturers are so proud of.
Angling the windshield the way they do is supposed to be
something wonderfully aerodynamic.
But what it really does is make it impossible for someone like me
(i.e., with short arms) to be able to reach the windshield to clean it
on the inside.
Someone at work had told me that there was a great
car wash right near where I live, if I was willing to spend the money
and the time. For once, I
decided to do both. What a
great idea! Instead of
sweating and swearing at unreachable areas, and leaving horrible streaks
no matter how many times I go over the glass, I sat comfortably in the
shade, reading the latest
Amelia Peabody
mystery novel, while someone else went over every inch of my car,
cleaning and polishing.
When it arrived back at the entrance, scarcely 20
pages into Amelia’s newest adventure, I was astounded.
The car had not been that clean since the day I bought it.
They even vacuumed and wiped all the dust on the inside.
I need to do this more often.
Once a year, at least, whether it needs it or not.
Love, as always,
Pete
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