Photo Source: http://www.insuranceswami.com
My great-grandfather was many things, pilot in World War II, immigrant from England, devout member of Canada’s Anglican church but he was also key player in Canada’s education system as it stands today.
Education was so important in my family and my great-grandfather was a huge force behind this. My grandmother followed in his teaching footsteps, not common for a woman born in the ’30’s to teach while raising a family with a husband who also works full-time. After she gave birth to her third child she eventually stayed home since her husband, a civil engineer, loved to be on the job site and so they were constantly moving around (my mom moved 13 times before her 18th birthday) making it difficult for my grandmother to maintain a teaching position.
When my great-grandfather passed he left some money to my sister and I for our future education. My mom being a single mother didn’t want to have to think about it so she gave it to her parents to hold onto until we needed it. It wasn’t much, maybe $2,000 but it was something. When my grandparents died (within three years of eachother) that money then became a part of their estate since it was in their savings accounts.
My grandparents, unknowingly to my mother, had also set aside enough money for all the current-born grandchildren to pursue post secondary education. I was to receive about $25,000 when they died. Enough for most of my undergraduate degree.
Without getting into too many messy family affairs here, I’ve never seen the money. My grandmother died in 1998.
In the turmoil of death of a parent, my mom was convinced to sign over being the executor of the will to her brother who lived in the province where they died. He convinced her that it would be easier for someone in province to deal with the legal stuff rather than her having to travel until it was settled. Long story short he took the entire contents of the estate and spent every. last. penny. {Just so I don’t have to answer what I can predict may be a million questions, yes, there were legal repercussion for this but regardless, my family never saw any of the money}
I know life is too short to hold grudges, but I fully believe that this money would have changed my life and I can’t help but think about it from time-to-time.
If I had that money I could have saved enough money during my undergrad to pay for my post-degree diploma, potentially graduating debt free….
If I had that money I wouldn’t have been in a position to charge thousands of dollars worth of tuition on credit cards….
If I had that money I may now be in a situation where our only debts would be hubby’s small student loan, car and mortgage…
If I had that money I may be able to afford to stay at home longer, if not permanently with kiddo….
If I had that money my life would undoubtedly be so different.
I know there’s no way of knowing which paths life may have created for me should I have received that money, but I sure would like to think that I’d be in a much better situation then I am now. It doesn’t help that I see my uncle and his family ”living the dream life” through photos almost everyday. They live in a beautiful gated community in the US, travelling home to Canada as often as they want. Their three kids will never have to worry about financial struggles yet we suffer because of his actions.
I’m human, I’ve thought about pursing legal action myself as an adult, I’ve even looked into getting answers through sites like LegalZoom, but I’ve decided to let bygones be bygones and just let it go.
Have you ever been in a (monetary) situation that could have potentially changed your life’s path?
Please note that ‘m not trying to make excuses for the financial path I went down. There is SO much more to my life story as the reasoning behind each decision that will probably take years to unfold on this blog, if ever. Let’s just say that unfortunately the money I made wasn’t given the opportunity to be used for school as much as I would have liked.
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