""You'll deal with it when I'm dead," our mom said whenever my sister or I wanted to help clean up any mess in her life, whether it be the kitchen cabinets or financial entanglements. Her stubbornness irked me, but I didn't have the heart to argue. When she was 85, and recently widowed by her second husband, we stepped in to assist with her bills and medical needs, a job her accountant husband had facilitated through the years."
"We quickly faced the painful realization that her brilliant mind was no longer as sharp as it had been. Everything was becoming more difficult for her: reading her mail, paying bills, maintaining her home. Though she was once fastidious with her files, mountains of papers were now piled on her kitchen table. She couldn't let go, so we had to do it for her We begged her to let us help organize her belongings."
A resistant elderly mother refused help with home organization and finances, insisting her children would deal with it after her death. At 85 and recently widowed, she showed signs of cognitive decline and struggled with basic tasks. A brain scan after a fall confirmed Alzheimer's, and familiar belongings became anchors as her control and dignity slipped away. After she died, her children confronted overflowing closets, stacked papers, and a jammed pantry while sorting her estate. The speaker is now proactively clearing clutter to avoid passing a similar, overwhelming burden to their own children.
Read at Business Insider
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