My Family....My Heart.....

Inheritance - the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual.

I’ve always thought this was such an odd thing. You get (inherit)things from your family, whether you may want it or not, sometimes
whether you deserve it or not, because you are part of the family. And people actually ARGUE when they feel they’ve been cheated.
Hmmmm……..you didn’t earn it. But you deserve it. Right.

When mom passed away in 2012 all the things you’ve talked about amongst yourselves “hypothetically” became in your face
reality. Dad was moving things in to our names, we were signing papers, it was ALL just a bit overwhelming at the time. Since mom preceded her own mother in death (who died 8 months later) suddenly we found ourselves in the midst of “inheritance”.

My mamaw and papaw were not rich people. Papaw retired from Exxon Refinery. He worked hard, did shift work and provided for his family. But they were by no means rich. In my lifetime I don’t remember mamaw working outside the home. That doesn’t mean she
didn’t work. They were constantly taking in “stray people” that didn’t have a place to live or were going through a hard time. Mamaw cooked meals for sick people & taught Sunday School, they were active in their local church, and they loved God with all their heart.

Papaw missed the farm terribly so he took an early retirement, left the city and headed to open pastures. He built a beautiful house (with his own hands) on land they owned and had “inherited”. He was only able to enjoy that life for about 3 years. Shortly after he retired he found out he had Lo Gehrig’s Disease. He died shortly after.

So here’s mamaw, living out in the country (nearest neighbor was about ½ a mile) by herself, on about 250 acres of land, and had
no work experience. I still marvel even today that she lived as a widow for over 30 years without ever having to go to work or be a
burden on her family.

There was a small “cabin”, for lack of a better word, that sat on the property and she leased it out to deer hunters. There were also several people who occupied that little shack when they couldn’t afford anything else. She leased the land for gravel. She
leased the land for other farmers to put their cows on. She leased the land for them to drill for oil. It was truly amazing how “land” and my papaw’s small retirement from Exxon kept her alive for over 30 years. And now my mom’s mineral rights were passed on to us girls and they will be passed on to our kids.

She ended up selling the house with the land that it sat on, built a smaller house closer to neighbors and lived there for a while. Once she reached her middle 80’s it was time to move near her daughters. She sold her house and the rest of the farm. She managed to only live with mom & dad a short while, then moved into assisted living. She was able to financially take care of herself until the day she died at 95. AND……there was still a little money left. Sometimes I think of their life...how simple it was. They didn't need all the latest rage. They made do with what they had. And they were able to take care of themselves until their dying day. I'm sure there's a lesson there somewhere.

This is where “I” come in. I had no idea. Never even crossed my mind. Since mom had passed her portion was divided between us three girls. Wow ! Just because of my bloodline. I found this not only a gift but a responsibility. After all, this wasn’t MY money. I
didn’t earn it. In fact, lots of labor for generations had gone in to me receiving anything. No telling how much it
took for my “Great’s” to accumulate and buy that much land. I wanted to make Papaw and Mamaw proud with my choices.

My Papaw was a no nonsense man. He never liked being away from home. He would come to visit and was ready to go home in two days. He didn’t need anything fancy. He loved the farm and that was good enough for him. He was “practical”. He may not have been rich but he always managed to have a couple of quarters in his pocket to take you down to the General Store to buy a pushup. Enough money to put gas in his car and truck so you could drive it all over that farm before your feet could even touch the pedals. Mamaw. on the other hand, loved pretty things. Papaw was fairly strict so she only occasionally bought a piece of “glass” as she called it. When he passed she not only took care of her needs, bought a few “pretty’s” but actually traveled overseas with my Aunt and Uncle. I was so proud of her.

So here I am, trying my hardest to figure out what to do with THEIR money.

I decided to please them both. I did the practical first: bought glasses for everyone, paid for car repairs, paid for a wedding,
etc…….but I really wanted to do something special, something a little frivolous…like mamaw ! Something “just for fun” !

Several bucket list items came in to play. I wanted a passport. I wanted a stamp in my passport. I wanted to be able to fly overseas(that’s HUGE…never thought I’d be able to make it that long in a plane over water). I’m just a few shorts weeks away from making that dream come true thanks to my grandparents.

I hope they would be proud with my choices. I would love to sit down and thank them personally. Not for my monetary inheritance as much as for the tremendous inheritance I received from having them in my life. For their Christian example. For their work ethic. For their love for people. For their giving spirit. For being the greatest grandparents a girl could ever have. I guess until I get to heaven this will have to do……

“All roads lead to Rome….and we’ll always have Paris” Thank you so much ! I love and miss you both !