Paperwork Memories

 So D has asked for some family documents, like passports and birth and death certificates, and  I set about doing a small historical dig through some file cabinets. In doing so, I realized it was finally time to consign some once important documents to the recycle bin of history.

There were thick files about my late Mom, Sunny. There were guardianship and trust documents, executed in May of 2012, when she entered the nursing home for the final 11 months she had left on this mortal coil. There was a quitclaim deed to my sisters and me for her condo -- it was comical what an awful investment that place turned out to be.

My parents bought the unit in the Spring of 1979 for $39K. When we sold it, in Spring of 2013, after Mom passed, I think the selling price was $48K. Had Mom and Dad bought a $40K house, it would have sold for close to $500K -- much more today. But Mom was SO happy in her condo surrounded by parking lots -- she lived there with Dad for 3 years, and as a widow for an additional 3 decades.

I decided it was ok to toss these old papers -- Mom's gone over a decade now, and I don't think anyone is going to question her final financial affairs.

I also came across files for other properties we owned. One was another bad investment -- a condo in Palmetto Bay. I made the mistake of listening to the advice of my friend Vince, who was worried that our kids would be priced out of the real estate market when they became adults. He was correct about that, somewhat, but he brought me to a condo conversion back in 2004. I checked out one of the units, and thought it might be worth $100K. Nope -- this was during the last bubble, and I ended up buying it for $235K. 

We rented it, first to a Burmese doctor and his family, and then for years to Lenny, a friend of a friend in the flower industry. After the first year of his lease, I made a deal with Lenny: I wouldn't raise his $1500 monthly rent, and he would take care of all small repairs. Also, we would each give each other one month's notice before he either moved out or I needed him to move out.

He was there so long, the market rate for rents had doubled. After my father in law died, we decided to move my suegra Rachel into the unit, with an aide. I called Lenny, and gave him two months notice. "No! You can't! This is my home! I can't afford any other rents!"

Sorry, Lenny -- I need the condo back for family. He mopishly agreed to move out, and then Wifey and I saw he really didn't keep up his end of the bargain. Toilet tank COVERS were missing! He was living like a fraternity boy. Whatever. Wifey hired Nestor, our loquacious Argentine handyman, and they got the unit into nice shape. My suegra lived there for a year, and then announced she was lonely. "Each day I look at the four valls."

We sold the place to the fellow who lived upstairs -- a retired teacher. He loved living there, but bad knees made the stairs a problem. We sold for, I think, $150K. I just got a notice that he's finally selling -- 6 years later. He's asking $295K. It appears that the unit is FINALLY worth more than I paid, or overpaid, in 2005.

But investments aside, the papers bring me back -- to events that were recorded. I kept all our family's passports -- they return them with holes punched in them when you renew. It was lovely to see the Ds as babies, and then little girls, and then young beautiful women.

D1 and hopefully D2 will get that thrill someday.

Speaking of grandkids, the adorable toddler said something yesterday that made me a bit teary eyed. He was playing on his slide, and was going to push his rubber llama down. He looked at me, and said "Grandpa Dev -- watch this!"

I'm not sure why that moved me so -- I guess because he was acknowledging me as his abuelo -- truly becoming a little boy from toddlerhood. 

His baby brother turns one in just over a month. THAT I can remember even without looking at the legal paperwork.