You always hear about the ugliness and the greed that appears after someone passes and you're happy that your own family
would never behave that way. Then someone dies and it happens just like everyone said it would. I actually take comfort in the fact that my parents have nothing that I'd ever want. If I showed up to their home after their funeral to find that my brother had changed the locks, I'd say, "fine. You get to clean up that fucking mess. See ya." Families are ugly.
When my mother-in-law passed, the only thing my wife, her only daughter, wanted, was her ring. Being that she was there and had helped nurse her mom during her last days, and her step father wanted nothing, he made sure that she got the ring. But her older brother showed up later asking where the ring was. Apparently he felt it made more sense for him to have it to keep for his own daughter some day. My wife kept it and told him that maybe some day she'd give it to him, but he then made the mistake of saying that it only makes sense, since she had no daughters. What? Um, we have the oldest daughter of the grandchildren. Of course, she's MY daughter and my wife's step-daughter, but that was enough. I doubt very much that her BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN brother will ever take possession of that ring. I told my wife, if you die before me, which I doubt, I'm having you cremated with the ring on. Yup, I'd rather let some strange crematorium owner keep the ring and sell it on eBay than let my brother-in-law have it.
Three or four days later - l've lost count - and it's still raining here in Dirty Undies, NY. If it keeps raining like this, they may have to change the name to Clean Undies or, at the very least, Really Well Rinsed Undies. I should probably go outside and risk electrocution in order to pump some water out of my big tin pool. The water level is almost at the deck height and already above the skimmer (which means that all of the dead bugs it trapped are now floating around under the solar blanket -ARGH!).