Quick Oregon Trip – Day 1

The drive went surprisingly fast. I was at my uncle’s property by 4:30 after checking into my lodgings. It was one thing to see all the ‘stuff’ on the auction site, it was quite another to see it in person. My cousin and I have come to the diagnostic conclusion that our father’s really did have a serious hoarding problem, rather that two guys born in the depression who couldn’t let go of anything…

I saw my uncle’s wife for a couple of minutes. She’s changed dramatically. She’s gone from an inquisitive housewife/pleaser sort of person to a wizen old lady who no longer cuts or colors her hair. Any sense of her own self-presentation to the world has evaporated. There’s not a thing wrong with that, it’s just a huge and startling change. She showed ample examples of the cognitive/paranoid challenges both of my cousins have been worried about.

My cousin and his step-brother are in this weird suspended space/way of living. Their lives are on hold until the contents of the property are dealt with, yet my uncle’s wife still living there, after having moved out briefly. She wants want to sell the property, but doesn’t want to move. I do not envy them at all.

After a long walk and an hour of conversation, my cousin directed me to a grocery to find some dinner. Nothing here is open at 8PM on a Sunday night, and he isn’t in a head place to entertain in any sense of the word. Hopefully we can have some lunch tomorrow or the next day.