I am deeply appreciative of the encouragement, good thoughts and clear thinking much in evidence here. Linear problem solving has obviously eluded me here and your ideas have helped to place my situation both in context and perspective. There is some irony in my stressing over the dispatch of objects rather than the dizzying constellation of side effects of immunotherapy. Yes, culling the amount of ‘stuff’ to a manageable and necessary level, creating a concrete plan of disposition for the rest and simply playing this out seems imminently sane. I am happy that I raised this question with a community who would understand what I was talking about. To Jim, I reside in the far southern reaches of metro Chicago.
Again, appreciation and gratitude to you all.
God, I hate to ask this…
Recent conversations with the oncologist have been replete with phrases like ‘stage 4’,metastasis’ and unappealing statistics applied to survival rates. While my real and financial affairs are well settled I am most perplexed with how to approach this large pile of audio stuff e.g. 3 secondary systems in addition to the primary one, several thousand lp’s, a similar number of CD’s/SACD’s, a closet full of cable etc. I am utterly confident that I am not alone in this. While I am comfortable that my wife will love and care for my dog I am less confident that the Avantgardes will elicit such emotional investment. Although my immediate inclination is to cling desperately to these treasured objects it seems patently unfeeling to expect someone else to deal with all of this. My wife will have enough to do. I could just divest myself of much of it and depend on the collection of headphones that I began to amass during the first illness. I really don’t want to do this. I would also like to pre-bequeath much of it to friends assuming that they wanted it but all of them have been adamant in their refusal to discuss this with me and probably will remain so until the 11th hour. As childlike as it seems, I am emotionally invested in these fruits of a lifelong passion and want them to end up where they will be respected and loved . This seems to be a juncture that we will all come to. I would be grateful to hear the contemplations that all you have had in this, admittedly, sobering matter.
To all of you, good cheer and good health.