My Aunt's Funeral

Today we buried my aunt, Big Gal. Her real name was Lillian but everyone called her Big Gal for most of her 83 years. Yes, she was big so she came by the nickname honestly.

Big Gal died last week Wednesday. Everyone thought her kids would have buried her this past weekend. It's not like people were coming from down south and needed traveling time, the furthest anyone came was Chicago. One of her sons, Terry, is in Mississippi but he couldn't come for the funeral. He's within maybe 45 days of being released from prison and they wouldn't give him a furlough. More than likely the hold-up was the undertaker insisting on up front payment and having to wait on her life insurance check.

There was a big turn out. It was almost like a family reunion. I saw cousins I hadn't seen in years.

When I pass on I don't want a funeral. It seemed so sucky that the one day everybody showed up to see Big Gal she couldn't see them. I want people to visit me while I'm alive, not after I'm dead and laying out in a casket.


Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.

hugs, Tawny

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Foreclosure X 2

A few years ago I was telling you about the house next door to me. How Dave and Diane, two of the hardest working people I knew, had lost their home to foreclosure. What made it doubly sad was Dave's father, Bud, had built the house all by himself back in the 1950's.The family lost a piece of their history when Dave and Diane lost their home.

A fellow who fancied himself a 'house flipper' bought the house from the bank. He completely redid it---new carpeting, kitchen counters, appliances, aluminum siding, etc. Then he put it on the market, expecting to reap humongous profits.

When I heard what he was asking for it I tried explaining to him that his asking price was unrealistic. Even though property was selling at an all time high, he was asking 40 grand more than any of the rest of us on the street could sell our homes for. And our homes were decades newer and almost twice the square footage, and had basements. He paid me no mind.

The neighbor across the street and down one, Ed, he tried explaining it to the owner too. But the flipper knew what he knew.

So months and months went by and no one bought the house. He offered deals, sort of---he tacked another 20 grand onto the selling price and said he'd refund the 20 grand to you at closing. Nobody was interested. Then he tried auctioning it. Nope, didn't work.

His next step was to rent it out. It took him almost a year to get a renter. The family stayed less than eight months. The house is empty once again, this time for almost a year. Another couple rented it for one year, then moved. Empty again for many, many months until a year ago this past August when a family with a child moved in.

But now the house is empty again. Not because the family wanted to move. Nope, they liked the house even though the rent was a bit high.

This time it's empty because it's in foreclosure. The landlord, the 'house flipper', was collecting the rent but he wasn't making the house payments with it. The family moved out this weekend.

I don't know how it is where you live but here in Michigan there are so many foreclosures it isn't funny. This one makes at least two on my street, and maybe the tenth in a four square block radius.

Aside from the obvious sadness and heartbreak when a family loses their home, it's also not a good thing for the rest of the neighborhood, the city, or the state. Whatever I could have expected to get for my house if I wanted to sell it, now it's thousands less because the foreclosures sell for mere pennies on the dollar.

I don't know when or even if this will ever correct itself. Michigan is a mess.

Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.

Hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300