not Eleanor

Yesterday the i’s were dotted and the t’s were crossed. We no longer have a proprietary connection to Clement Hardware. Oh, we have a connection to be sure, and will continue to for some years. In fact, I’m now a director on the Board (rather small board though it is--3, I think,) and we certainly have a vested interest in the business continuing to prosper.

So, all in all I guess I should feel good about getting that ironed out, particularly in light of the fact that the settlements which should wrap up the last of our landlording obligations are just around the corner. Actually, what I felt yesterday--and continue to feel (and, as a matter of fact have felt from the moment we put the houses on the market, and began the divestment from the store process) is a little queasy.

Of course I’m glad, in the sense that I’m glad it has gone reasonably efficiently (though hardly cheaply in terms of legal and professional fees to hammer out the store details,) but Jeff’s passivity is sometimes hard to read, and I’m not sure he could explain it even if he wanted to. It’s part resignation, part a peaceful letting go, and part the usual fog of not being able to sort it all out anyway. My ambivalence stems from realizing that none of this is what he would want, were he in a position to carry out what he would want, were things not what they are. (gads. I sound like Jack Sparrow.)

If I were Eleanor Roosevelt maybe I could have carried the store and real estate jobs out on my own power, and Jeff would not have had to see himself as having to give them up. Ok, so I’m not Eleanor Roosevelt.