Being Neighborly

There are times when being a good neighbor may require going above and beyond the normal.

So it has been this week for Tom and me.  

Maxine and Leroy have lived next door to us for all of our 35 years here in this house.  In fact they have lived in their small home since 1955.  Leroy died about three years ago, and lately Maxine has become overwhelmed with keeping up her place.  I hadn't really realized how befuddled she had become until we had to deal with getting her moved out of her house.

To backtrack, a former neighbor, now living in assisted living, called Maxine's relative living in Iowa, reporting that Maxine was not capable of living on her own any more.  That was a bit of an overstatement, but it put in action a plan via an old friend in Montana ( I know, I can't keep track either) who arranged for Maxine to go into assisted living, and then announced it to Maxine.  She had about two weeks to get ready.    The Chateau where she would be living arranged to help her select and move the furnishings she would need for her two room apartment   This move happened while we were on our east coast trip.

When we got back we spend a day getting things done here and then moved into the garden to work.  That was Sunday   At 2:00 in the afternoon Maxine came over asking for help loading things into her car.  Three hours later we came back home exhausted and very concerned.  It seems there was no plan to deal with the 60 years of  contents of the house. 

Maxine has no family here or anywhere near, and really no one else to help her out.  It fell to us.

I had nightmares that night.  On Monday we each spent about five more hours there.  I had to lead Maxine to each move as I worked to get her to go through her clothes and personal papers and anything else she wanted to keep.  Tom worked with another neighbor, George, who came and removed valuable items to sell on Craig's List.  

On Tuesday, once I was ready to leave for the coast, I went over to check on progress, and got talked into running an estate sale on Sunday.  That was today.

Tom made signs.

The house was full of stuff: main living area, garage, basement, attic, and outdoor shed - none of it at much value.  George had advertised the sale on Craig's List, a $5.00 Estate Sale.  We had seven "professional" buyers lined up when we opened at 10:00.  They were wonderful guys, actually, and through the day they kept finding "treasures".  Others came from the neighborhood and because they had seen the sign out on the arterial.

Tom worked in the house.  Jill and the kids helped for a while.  I was the woman in charge, dickering prices and taking payment.  I guarded piles of stuff that accumulated outside the house.  There was a lot of hunting and fishing gear and tools - lots of MAN stuff.

 People were kind and considerate.  Several found jars of coins and handed them to me.  One woman found Maxine's photo album from her wedding.  You see Maxine here with it, remembering the day and the people.

It was after 3:00 this afternoon when we closed up, sat down and counted the cash.  Maxine does not have a lot of resources, so we were very pleased to hand her $1850 in earnings.

We are not done yet.  The house is still full of stuff.  One buyer says he can take almost everything and haul it off - perhaps for re-sale, we're not sure, and we don't care.  When he is through, we will have some more disposing to do.

We will wait now for final clean out.  Tom and I plan to get some down time until then.  We are tired.  Staying home sounds wonderful.  

But we are also pleased to have been able to help, as much as we really didn't want to.