On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 17:33:57 GMT, Rosalie B.
wrote:


My grandfather remarried after my grandmother died to a lady who while
she was 20 years younger was in her mid 50s and he was her third or
fourth husband. She had way more money than my grandfather, so they
signed a pre-nup. All her money would go to her kids and not to my
grandfather, although she had a life tenancy (if she wanted it) to
live in his house. So maybe that would be one way to remove that
concern.

Here's an irony: my middle-class father, ex-British Merchant Marine,
is pushing 80 and was ten years older than my mother whom we lost last
year to cancer. Typically, (he's a child of Depression and WWII Blitz
in England) , he scrounged and saved and they didn't take the trips
and activities they could well afford, because he thought he'd die
first and leave her somehow destitute. Now, his pensions and savings
and habitual economies mean that he will leave half-a-million each to
me and my sister, because he didn't spend a cent when he could have
and probably should have.

So the likelihood is strong that the reason I myself will get
something like Skip's ideal Morgan 46 (or some other similar Brewer or
Wallstrom design, which I greatly favour for offshore cruising) is
because he didn't spend money on my mother when she was alive and
wanting nothing more than to travel to distant shores.

I already have a decent Great Lakes cruiser. She could easily do the
ICW to the Caribbean.

I could refinance a decent ocean cruiser out of a nearly-paid-off
house.

So in sum, I wish they'd blown their savings on a well-earned good
time and not left us an essentially redundant packet o' cash which
will pay for frills like radar and nice things like college educations
for their grandkids....essentially, any inheritance will bypass my
generation to make life a little nicer for the kids he doesn't notice
because he's in mourning for his dead wife.

The lesson? Carpe ****ing diem, my friends, because it doesn't come
around again. If you want it, go for it, and let no one bar your
dream.

To hell with waiting for 65...I'd rather be a poor cruiser in a decent
boat while I can still haul a halyard.

Good on you, Skip and Linda: fair winds and steady seas. Your story
has been most instructive.

R.