In today’s ABC, my letter is G. My words today are Goals, Gardening, Gates, and George.
Goals: It is important to have goals in life. Sometimes it is as simple as getting from A to B in traffic or getting up at a certain time. Then there are my writing goals; I need to write the epilogue to my second memoir, (it has become the hardest part) and be published. I make copious notes on paper and many more in my head. Sometimes I am lucky or efficient and get everything on the list done. Sometimes I achieve a lot but it has nothing to do with the list. That happened yesterday. Today my goal is to publish this blog!
Gardening: Yesterday was a lovely Easter Sunday, and I planned to spend it in the garden. The original idea was to cut back and clean up just one section, but the project grew. By the time I was finished, I was feeling a little frustrated because it took most of the day, definitely exhausted, but exhilarated with the final success of my achievement. I finished the day by taking Henry for a walk in the dwindling sunlight down to the beach, even though I was tired.
Gates: I have many gates, which I put in when the local deer decided that a stroll around my garden, would provide a delicious early morning breakfast. They are all made from rebar, and the designs were created to accommodate the blue bottles that I had been collecting. When my writing group published our first stories the bottles were the inspiration for our name and our first book, The Blue Bottles Writing Studio A Variety of Stories From Four Independent Authors. Available from Amazon.
G is also for George Francis Edward, one of the original members of my Blue Bottles Writing Studio, which started in 2018. While a fraud investigator at WECU, George wrote a book, How to Steal from Mom, published in 2017,
describing how seniors are taken to the cleaners by their adult children. Recently George revisited this story and shared a portion with us. I would like to now share it with you, my readers.
Two Angels Revised by George Francis Edward
Daisy was a delightful ninety-year-old widow, who suffers from advanced Alzheimer’s. I was Daisy’s Guardian Angel. I watched over her, I protected her, I made sure she was safe from harm. I was happy to do so.
The harm came in the form of a ruthless son, named Flint. Not his real name. Flint lived in Phoenix, Arizona, he was sixty-five years old. For years, the ne’er-do-well Flint had been draining Daisy’s savings. He purchased a house, a sports car, and countless other trinkets using his mom’s pension and social security retirement funds. Each month he would transfer thousands of dollars from Daisy’s bank account into his own account.
Then one day Daisy collapsed at home. She was rushed to St. Joseph’s hospital and diagnosed with a number of medical ailments. Home health care (“Visiting Angels”) was arranged for Daisy because she did not want to be institutionalized. But twenty-four-hour home health care is expensive, and all of Daisy’s funds would be needed for her care and maintenance. Flint was not happy with this arrangement. He made plans to drive from Phoenix to Bellingham for the sole purpose of withdrawing all of Daisy’s funds from her WECU bank accounts.
Poor Daisy did not know what day it was, but she did recall the name of her only child — the center of her universe. Daisy was excited Flint was coming to visit her. She thought it was because he loved her. Luckily for Daisy, St. Joseph’s hospital contacted a Power of Attorney (POA). Flora became a staunch advocate for Daisy. She visited our Fountain Branch and asked the teller who she could talk to about the “financial exploitation of the elderly.” Flora was given my phone number. We quickly became friends. Together we worked to insure Daisy’s health and security.
At the bank, Flint was visibly angry because he realized Flora had
redirected the bulk of Daisy’s retirement funds to a secure POA account, only accessible by Flora. Flint was cursing loudly according to the loan officer at the branch. Flint realized he had been outmaneuvered by
Flora and me because when he tried to empty his mom’s savings account, he discovered only $200, not the $60,000 he was expecting to find. Flint screeched a few choice names for Flora. But what is illuminating in this branch surveillance photo was Daisy’s beautiful smile.
Like most of the Vulnerable Adults we saved, Daisy was beaming away in blissful ignorance. When Flint came to town, and moved into Daisy’s house, he fired all the Visiting Angels’ staff. Then all the work fell upon his shoulders, and he didn’t like it. Flint became increasingly angry, because he had to cook for his mom, do the laundry, etc. Daisy was incontinent, and Flint changed her diapers. He displayed hostility towards his ailing Mother. In a panic, Daisy called Flora and said she was afraid because Flint was screaming at her, and she didn’t know what to do. Flora told Daisy not to be frightened. Help was on the way.
The next evening, two ladies knocked on the door of Daisy’s house. Flint answered the door. “What do you want?” he asked.
“We’re here to take Daisy for a walk,” they said. “Exercise is good for you.”
Flint got Daisy’s coat, and the two ladies left arm-in-arm with Daisy.
The ladies escorted Daisy to a local Hotel where Flora was waiting. Flora hid Daisy at the hotel for the next week until the District Court hearing. Flora eventually sued Flint in District Court for a Vulnerable Adult Protection Order because she felt it was the only way to protect Daisy from Flint’s exploitation. The judge called Flint a “poster boy for elder abuse” and prohibited Flint from knowingly coming within one hundred feet of Daisy’s residence, and Flint was even prohibited from contacting his own Mother.