We looted my grandparent's house this weekend.

[Fenris]

Room by room, drawer by drawer, shelf by shelf.

No cabinet went unexamined, no box unopened.

All of the possessions amassed by two people over their lifetimes picked over by their family for anything of worth.

The chaff was left for an estate sale. Even by estate sale standards, the items remaining will not fetch a whole lot.

The uniform my great grandfather wore in France in 1917 that I had dreamed of and coveted since I was alerted of its existence went to a more senior member of the family. I did secretly snatch his medal though - it was hidden in my grandfather's old radio room (he used to be a ham radio operator). No one else knew of its existence. I felt bad about taking it, but looking at the behavior of my family, I quickly got over that.

My uncle once again proved himself to be a cold, greedy twat. Any surprise that he's the lone Republican in the family? He had me looking at the backside of decorative china plates to see if they were worth anything. I told him politely but clearly that the only ones worth anything were the Danbury Mint Norman Rockwell plates. I hope he thought he had a goldmine there, because the reality is that the plates' values will leave him terribly disappointed. C'est la vie. He already stripped the place for anything of monetary value anyway. Computer, DVD player, a dual-handset telephone. That telephone had been requested by my cousin Michael, who wanted to use it when he gets his apartment next year. My uncle said he'd take it. Then, to add insult to injury, he asked Michael to put it in his Yukon with the rest of his loot. He also took the liberty of entrusting the family photos to himself, as well as the various personal effects of my grandmother, who, although she is in a nursing home, is still alive. So all of that history, all of those documents, will be entombed in some closet in his house, collecting dust and deteriorating along with the memory of my ancestors.

I think about what transpired there over the weekend and feel ill. It has made me consider an ideal inheritance system for myself when I die. I will choose certain items for certain people. They will be entrusted to my lawyer. He will distribute them accordingly.

Then my home and everything in it will be burned to the ground.

The dead deserve so much better than a shopping spree for their survivors.