I felt a need to document this trip to Nashville to help with the settlement of an estate. Steve’ sister-in-law and brother passed away and left all of their belongings in their house to Steve, Liz (sister-in-law’s sister) and a pet sanctuary in Utah. Wayne (sister-in-law’s brother) graciously accepted the Executorship from Steve who turned it over to him to handle. Little did Wayne know how involved the settlement of the estate would be.

We arrived via Atlanta airport on Wednesday. Strangely on our flight from Atlanta to Nashville we witness a military transfer of remains onto our plane. It turns out that the remains the pilot tells us from “a jungle in Hawaii,” a WW2 pilot of a Hellcat that crashed and was missing since 1945. The WW2 pilot’s brother is meeting the plane in Nashville.

Now how weird is it that we just came from the Hawaii jungles and now are in Nashville to deal with Steve’s deceased brother and sister-in-laws “remains” from their estate and Steve’s brother Joe was a veteran.

We arrive on Wednesday and begin the process of assessing belongings in the house, along with Liz and Wayne. We are trying to understand what the status is of the estate project of emptying the house. It is somewhat complicated in that the sister-in-law (and to a certain extent Steve’s brother) were hoarders. While Liz and Wayne and Wayne’s significant other had spent 6 months cleaning out as much of the house as they could, there is a tremendous (almost unbelievable) amount of ‘stuff’ that still needs to be dealt with to be able to sell the house.

So…..we spend Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday helping to organize, arrange, recycle, donate and dumpster items so Goodwill can come for a pick-up of the remaining belongings on September 26. Then the house will be put up for sale and hopefully bring closure for everyone. Lots of phone calls, refocusing everyone and working the plan to finish emptying the house.

Working everyday from 9 AM until 5 PM with only a couple of breaks to drink water reminds us of our mission trip times. Exhausting, rewarding and hopefully accomplishing something of good for others.

1 pickup truck trip to the electronics and household chemicals recycle center

Engine Stats – 10 pickup truck loads and 1 SUV load to Goodwill.

Packed 86 bins, stuffed 18 large trash bags and 16 boxes for Goodwill to pick-up at the house along with all the remaining furniture (over 50 pieces)

Filled one 14 foot, 4 Ton Dumpster (The family had previously filled two dumpsters, and another is in the driveway, ready for the final assault this week.)

Drank one twelve pack of beer and a case of water

Mission Accomplished!