Feeling rather un(con)templative.
3:08 p.m.
My big brother called this morning to get my thoughts on how Mummy�s doing. I�m not very good on the telephone long-distance, and I also wasn�t happy with his idea that our ancestral home should be rented out so that in the event he wants an escape hatch, he has a house to move to. I ended up sending him an email explaining that it is almost impossible to kick a tenant out of a rental, and even if he decided he wanted to move back to Canada, there�s no guarantee he would actually be able to move into the house when he wanted to. It would be better if the house were sold and the money made available (invested in T-Bills, or some other quickly redeemable method) so that in the event he wanted to come to Canada, he could rent or buy a place with it. His attachment to the house is sentimental, I know, as is mine. But he hasn�t lived there for 32 years and I think he should be able to let it go by now.
Then my mom called and we had a big long conversation (she talks and I go mm hmm a lot) and she thinks that my sister-in-law would have to be pretty desperate to move to our freaking cold climate in the first place. She has always lived on a kibbutz and has never had to deal with the things that we city dwellers take for granted: monthly payment of utility bills, shopping for groceries, preparation of meals, washing of laundry and dealing with finances on a larger level. I explained to my mom that she still wouldn�t have to learn how to cook; thousands of women never use their kitchens if T.V. sitcoms are to be believed. Then there are the larger things like calculating income taxes and finding a job where she would actually receive a weekly or monthly or whatever paycheque. She�s never done any of those things. It would be quite a shock to her.
And then there�s Old Man Winter. It would kill her. Well, it probably wouldn�t, but her complaining about it would seriously discomfit everyone else. Is it worth it? Seriously? My other sister-in-law is also Israeli, but she adapted to life in Canada and even partakes of winter sports now. Of course, she�s the classic ice queen bitch, so it�s not surprising. (Did I really say that? Shame on me!) But the point here that I�m trying to make in a most circuitous way is that the chances of them coming to Toronto are slim to begin with, so why hold on to an old house of purely sentimental value when the proceeds thereof could be going to pay for our mother�s comfort and continued good health?
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