Coming to a Close

This week: 

It snowed yesterday.

We spoke to an attorney just to make sure we're doing all the right things in the aftermath of Rudy's death.

We put his bookshelf, the one ruined by the water leak, and his bedframe beside the dumpster near his apartment and they disappeared overnight. We put the cart he used for groceries there, too, and someone took that as well. I hope someone who can use them took them. 

We took his candy and sweets and pears to an open food pantry (really just a cabinet where people leave food for others to take) near his neighborhood. It's the second time we took his things there. (We kept his last grocery order, the one he and Dave were going to pick up the day he died, and we ate the candy bars and put two cans of ravioli in our pantry. The cookies went up on the altar near his ashes but have since been replaced by a handful of peppermints which he always had around.)

I threw out eleven different prescription medications--no, it was twelve. I forgot the one in the refrigerator. We donated the unopened vitamins.

Today:

We finished clearing out his apartment. We took photos and videos of the empty place. We did not clean it. I don't expect there's a deposit coming back and the lawyer advised us that our responsibility was to notify the landlords, leave the keys, and nothing more.

Grace came as we were finishing loading up the last of Rudy's things and she did a short ritual. I'm grateful to her for this. Neither Dave nor I are spiritual, but it has its place and I did not want to forget that.

We had a take-out lunch from Rudy's favorite burrito place. He usually ordered carne adobada, but my stomach can't take the chile anymore, so I had a bean and chicharrone burrito and Dave had a bean and cheese burrito. We stopped and ate near the cemetery where my younger brother and grandmother are buried. There was a funeral service going on nearby. It was very peaceful.

We dropped off the last donations (mostly wound care things and towels) at a healthcare organization that works with homeless people. I'm glad to know that Rudy's things will benefit others in a tangible way.

Our mail included his new urn (a cedar-lined walnut box made by a craftsman in Montana)  and the envelopes that we will use to send some of his ashes to artisans who are making glass pieces for my mother, David and me. 

I only cried five times today.