h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I got a temporary position with a mortgage company a couple of weeks ago, a good job. But I can't keep it, as I'm only filling in for a woman who is out on sick leave for three months. Really wish I could stay as the money is nice, the people are very nice, and the work is interesting.

On another front, my life is in utter turmoil. My father was placed in a nursing home about 6 weeks ago, back in Michigan. I have his power of attorney and at first it looked as though he'd be there for just a couple of weeks while he got some therapy for a fall he took. Since then, he has had to have a gastric feeding tube put in place, and now it looks as though he will be in that home or another like it for the rest of his life. On top of that, he doesn't have the money to pay his share of the nursing home charges AND the mortgage on his house. The house will have to be sold or worse (like foreclosed on). I can't even go back there. I am in a temporary job, but have no money to travel back there, pay on my obligations here in California and if I leave the temp job, I'll be replaced by the next day.

I have been relying on my step-brother whose trustworthiness has been less than sterling before this. God only knows what is going to happen.

I'll remember you in my prayers

Don't forget to call on the angels for help, believe me, you'd be surprised.

GB, thank you -- I welcome all the hugs and angel-spotting I can get!

The hardest part has been finding myself as the one who has to come up with the answers, instead of the one needing the help. We are trying to get my Dad in to the same nursing home or one very near the assisted living place my Stepmother is in. Then, they can see each other and visit, which they have not been able to do for a couple of years now.

I do feel like I have a guardian angel looking out for me and my Dad, as things could turn out to be a little better than they have been.


SC

Oh wow. And I thought I had problems. Hope something has gotten better since you last wrote this. As one whose problems seem insurmountable at times I definitely can relate to the strain and worry. Mo

Thanks, Mo. The hardest part of being responsible for the decisions regarding my father is that a lot of the time, the hospital staff and nurses don't even think of just asking HIM what he wants done. He's still as sharp mentally, as ever, and it's really frustrating to him. I try to cheer him as much as I can.

My temp job is over in 2 1/2 weeks, on the 30th. My biggest worry is that the job situation is as bad now as in the last 2-3 years regardless of Wall Street is saying. I have looked in to going back to Michigan over the past two years as the situation developed, but there is NO work there. If you do an internet job search on Detroit, it's scary how few jobs are listed, for what I do (administrative assistant/payroll coordinator).

I read your personal space. Mo -- you have overcome a lot of serious setbacks yourself, and I'm impressed that you and your wife have raised 4 kids with the circumstances you've faced. With the exception of your earlier experience, my brother has had some of the same diffculties. He is a Vietnam vet, and later an Air Force lifer. When he retired from the service, he got work as a car mechanic and any other odd jobs he can get. Right now, he is unemployed (and a recently diagnosed diabetic of 62) -- and finding work now is harder than it is for 30 year olds, etc. Let's hope we can all persevere.

SC