Mass. Trip '10, day FOUR

Jump out of bed, drive to the Company 𝔾 conference and back (see next post).  Then laze about.  Then off to the local Borders bookstore, so the kids can spend the gift certificates they got from the in-laws.  The kids take forever to select their books, so there is no time available to visit Penzey’s Spice Shop.  Wifey is very unhappy about this.  I tell her that it’s all her fault, which is one of the worst things you can say to her.

Visit with my spinster aunt in Brookline (¾ hour drive each way).  She is the only surviving member of my family with whom we are still on speaking terms.  I am the executor of her estate and much of the conversation revolved around making it easy for me to clean up her affairs after she passes away.  “I’m almost eighty,” she said.  She dropped hints about whether I needed some money before she died.  It reminded me of my great-aunt, who called me at University 25 years ago, not long after she turned 80, and asked if I had a business that she could invest in.  “This may be the last time I can help you,” she said.  The next time I saw her, the mind was not all there anymore.  My father had a horrible time cleaning up her estate.

I regretted not getting the dough from my great-aunt, so I shouldn’t waste this offer from my non-great aunt.  But my business is software development and doesn't really have any capital costs.  My mortgage balance is uncomfortably high and interest rates are expected to rise drastically in the near future.  My car has 100,000 miles on it and might not last much longer.  But none of these seem like good reasons to present to my aunt as to why she should give me a hand-out.  Maybe, if one of my elderly neighbours wants to sell their house and move to an old-age home, I could ask my aunt for the down payment so I can rent it out.  My father did that for awhile.  My great grandfather apparently made most of his money that way, eventually closing his butcher shop and just doing real estate all the time.  But there are no For Sale signs on my block at the moment.