9 to 5 - What a way to make a living

Steve left earlier than usual this morning because he had a meeting in Santa Cruz. Maggie was still in bed and I was doing something at the bedside. Steve bid us adieu with, “You girls have fun today.” I looked at him indignantly and said for both Maggie and I, “Fun?!? We are working today, IF you don’t mind.” He was properly apologetic.


Maggie did have to work with me today. I am the executor and trustee for my aunt and I am still dealing with some stubborn items from her estate and trust. The anniversary of her death is on Saturday so I have been doing this stuff for a year now. It has been a ton of work to get to this point. It is about 80% done. If I can get to 85% the last bit will go very quickly, but I have been stuck at this point for months. Finally, there is some movement and I had to get some paperwork done this morning. The only availability was between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM. The nurse was not scheduled to come until 1:00PM, and Steve was working out of town, so Maggie had to come with me.

Maggie is almost NEVER in the financial district. There is just no reason for her to go. Both the streets and the sidewalks are crowded. Driving is difficult and parking is impossible or extremely expensive. That is, of course, unless you have Maggie the magic parking fairy with you. Her handicapped placard opens up all the metered spaces without having to worry about the time.

We had to make two stops about five blocks apart. I was only going to park once and walk between the two places. That gave me a range of acceptable parking; I could park near one or the other or between the two. As I drove down California Street, I was disappointed to see that almost all the metered spaces were also loading zones. Those would not work with the handicapped parking. I figured I would have to pull into an overpriced lot, but the last possible block had regular meters and there was one space open. It was right in front of one of our stops. Major score!! Maggie’s parking fairy dust never disappoints.

We got out, cleared security, went up to the 25th floor and got everything taken care of AGAIN! (I believe this is attempt #3.) We left there and started walking up the hill to the attorney’s office. I had to take Maggie’s picture as we crossed Montgomery Street, which is the heart of the financial district. (At least it was back in the day I worked down there….who knows anymore)

It is a very gentle ascent for four blocks, but the last block and one half are really a hill. They were steeper than I remember, but pushing the chair makes everything seem steeper. I was out of breath, but we arrived, delivered the golden papers and everything was taken care of. We headed back down the hill, took a break for a feeding and I asked Maggie if she was ready to go home. She slammed her fist down in her “no” response.

I figured she was due for a little fun after two boring meetings, so we did her favorite thing. We rode the glass elevators in the Hyatt Regency. Working girls have to sneak a little fun when they can!

She was laughing uproariously during that, but as we prepared to disembark from the elevators, I said, Ok, Maggie, back into the working world for us.

She put on her game face and we headed out.