The morning after my last post (July 23), I got a call from my broker in Florida...it's bad news. There are "family problems". I need to hire a lawyer and...worst of all...I need to get down to Florida ASAP.
I won't bore you with the details, but this story involves an ungrateful mother, a scheming half-brother, and an individual who had been among my closest friends for over forty years...and whose treachery (and thievery) set all of these events in motion.
Three days after that last post, I put my vehicle and my camper in a storage yard in Anchorage. That night, I had a nice dinner with cousin Bill...and...at midnight, I was on a flight back to Detroit.
Then, four days of gathering financial records and shipping them to my lawyers in Florida. Then a flight down to Florida...and three very long weeks of meetings with lawyers and accountants.
And...Florida is not a place that you want to be in August...hot, humid, rainy. And the costs...thousands of dollars in travel...thousands in attorney fees and thousands in accountant fees. After three weeks, things are "stabilized", but by no means "fixed".
I fly back to Alaska at the very end of August. I get my camper and vehicle out of storage...and start the drive home. It's not a "happy" drive...just go and get home. I made it home in just eight days.
Now, seven months later, some of the damage has been repaired and some of the issues resolved. Financially, everything has been rectified...the thief's family has repaid his theft in full. My mother has been made whole. I have been made whole. So...things are better. Better...but things will never be the same.
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