Relieved

    I was a little peeved when I talked with USAA, where Dad had a largish block of funds (i.e., large to us, a lunch-time tip to Bill Gates). I needed to know if the funds were in his name (and thus would go to probate) or the trust's name (wouldn't), and they wouldn't talk to me until they had a copy of the death certificate and of my appointment as personal representative by the probate court. Fine, but they wouldn't let me just send them; I had to wait until they sent me a letter with a postage-paid return envelope. And when I sent it back, I was supposed to wait a week plus before calling back.
    This is actually Dad's largest block of investments. It makes a huge difference (about six months as I understand it) whether or not it's subject to probate. So the question is fairly pressing. I did get the letter today (after a week) and called to see if I really had to wait a week to call back after sending my reply. The guy I talked to said I could try Tuesday. (I had pointed out that I was sending it from the regional mail processing facility; it ought to get there faster than theirs got here.)
    I don't know why I feel so relieved. It wasn't that big a deal that the letter took a week. But I felt ridiculously like dancing. In general, my life now is so low-stress compared to before that it's pretty neat. Yesterday, I noticed that I'm now taking long walks not to destress but just because I like taking long walks. And that's also pretty neat.