Caregiving Contracts

On June 25th the New York Times ran an article on caregiving contracts. It seems like an odd thing, a contract that defines your being paid to care for your parents, but it also sort of makes sense.

I don't know how many caregivers are in the same situation as I am, where their role as caregiver places them in the highest stress unpaid job in the world, but I am guessing it is more than actually get paid to provide care to their parents.

My parents came up with the simple math of in exchange for the care I provide is paid for in my inheriting their home and everything in it. A good deal - until the home had to be placed into mortgage to pay for the mortgages of the homes of several others in the family. Now I am trying to figure out a way to save my parents' home so that I can have the home my mom wanted me to have.

My dad and I have looked into several of those guaranteed acceptance life insurances and have began payments on a few of those, it is his hope that if anything happens to him I will be able to coax a bank into allowing me to at least start making payments on the house to buy it back. We will see how that works, I'm hoping my dad lives another 80 years and we'll just slowly pay the place off together.

There is no place like home

That is not only Dorothy's mantra for getting back home at the click of her heels, it is a very true bit of wisdom that some people spend their entire lives figuring out.

So, what made me figure that out? Taking a vacation. It has taken me twice as long to recover from the vacation as the vacation lasted. And now I look out into the yard at the Nasturtiums that I had ready to plant that had not got planted and have instead withered in the starter pots. Those I did get planted are far behind in their development, and I ended up spending the money that normally went into flowers for the yard on going south for a week.

Next year. Next year if anyone says that anyone has to go anywhere in the spring I am going to go after them with a 2x4.