May. 05, 2006 ~ Thanks, Bubba
My brother was killed in a car accident in December, 1995. His death hit me hard, coming unexpectedly, and right before Christmas. It is only within the past few years that I've been able to speak or write of him without feeling lump-in-my-throat sad. Wait a minute, there it is again. But at least it's much less raw, less painful a wound than it was in the beginning.
Out of curiosity, I usually look at our state's annual list of unclaimed property. I check my name, my relatives' names, friends' names, too. Last year I was pleasantly surprised to find an amount listed for my brother, which I was able to claim (as heir and administratrix -- can that really be a word?). It was about $96, I think, and Husband, College Boy and I went out and had a nice dinner on my brother. We smiled and thought about him a lot.
Tonight I looked at that same list of unclaimed property, not really expecting to find anything, and to my surprise, there was another listing for my brother, this time for several hundred dollars. Very nice, really. Quite unexpected. Maybe I'll give our boys some of that. But the more I looked at the claim form, the more it nagged at me. It said the property was "demutualization cash." Come on now. Do YOU know what that means? Anyone? Seriously? And it was from a certain financial company which also happens to sell insurance. Being... what's the word... let's just say "thorough," I found a number for and called the life insurance division of that company, just to ask what the heck that demutualization business is all about. The answer sounded pretty much like this, "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah, blah,blah, blah, sale of stock, blah, blah,blah, blah, POLICY HOLDERS. He explained it to me twice, and clever girl that I am, I still hadn't a clue what he'd said, except for the "policy holder" part. This started the gears turning and the little machine that is my brain had a thought. Policy holder? Excuse me? Does that mean that he at one time had a policy? And the nice gentleman asked for my brother's social security number, his name, my name, and a few other things, and told me I needed to call the claims department, which will be open tomorrow morning. But rules and laws being what they are, he couldn't tell me anything else, except that my brother was listed in their computer. Huh. So now I am curious. Wouldn't you be? My hopes are not up. No, REALLY, they're not. I'm still trying to get over the several hundred dollars part. Chances are slim to none that there was any kind of a policy in effect... really. He had another life insurance policy in effect when he died, and I can't imagine that he'd have an additional policy. Yeah, I'm pretty convinced. Still curious, though.
Stay tuned.
And it's just weird, nearly 11 years after he's gone, to still be getting money from my brother, out of the blue.
Thanks, Bubba.
Love you.
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