The following morning, Sherry entered Dad’s nursing home room looking nervous. He pointed toward a chair and asked, “Where did my farm money go?” Her face crumpled. Finally, she admitted she’d used the $26,000 annual rent to pay her husband Roger’s medical expenses. Three years earlier, Roger had suffered a serious heart attack, leaving them with more than $61,000 in medical debt. She claimed she’d intended to repay everything but kept falling further behind as additional bills arrived.
I reminded her that I’d sacrificed $75,600 from my retirement because she told me Dad had no money. She began crying and handed Dad a notebook documenting every payment. He asked why she hadn’t simply requested help. Then he reminded us that his physical limitations didn’t mean he had lost the ability to manage his own affairs.
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