My most recent struggle...family shit. My grandma died a few years ago. Before she died she wrote a will, and was quite adamant that it be followed. For example my oldest male cousin received her house (which is in Detroit). I received an old Cadillac - like, late 70s old. One of my brothers received a 2000s Cadillac. My car needed a lot of work so it was worked on by a mechanic for awhile, who then put it in storage. My brother's car stayed in my grandma's garage.
I love my cousin, he introduced me to rap music, Street Fighter II and a host of other shit. But he's a dumbass. Late 30s, has only worked odd jobs that he can barely keep, is rather lazy, etc. Everyone knows this stuff, but my grandma always looked out for him; he lived with my grandparents for the final years of their lives, and overall looked after them although he fucked that up a few times. Anyway my grandma's house was paid off, all that remained was yearly taxes. I don't remember the exact tax number but it wasn't large, like <$3000 iirc. Well needless to say my cousin didn't pay a dime on the taxes after my grandma died. The house fell into disrepair, the lawn wasn't being cut, it just looked terrible. At one point he moved out, and would come by randomly to stay for a week or so.
On one such week when he was staying at the house he got into a fight with his girlfriend, who then proceeded to...start a fire in anger. The fire burned down the garage...where my brother's Cadillac was stored. After that my cousin moved out the house and didn't return.
So now the house is slowly being ripped apart. The block it's on used to be pretty nice, but has looked like Baghdad for the last 15 years. For whatever reason nothing has been shut off in the house, so neighbors are siphoning electricity and other shit from the house. Meanwhile copper pipes and other shit is disappearing daily. During all this madness some dude apparently has put the house on sale, claiming his grandmother gave it to him when she died. This guy isn't related to me, mind you. Obviously the tax issue means that the city will own the house soonish, but this dude is trying to sell.
Now to me, this is just a sad story that ultimately I can move on from. The city will take over the house and I'd imagine the block will be cleaned up and gentrified in 5-10 years. However my mom is obsessed with this. She is constantly going down to Detroit to look at the house, she has talked to the guy who is trying to sell it, etc. She's taken my dad down there too, as well as her brother (my uncle). She wants to go into the house. I have begged her to stop going down there, to let this shit go. As I mentioned earlier, the block is literally Baghdad, circa 2003. Who knows who is squatting in the house. My dad has demanded she not go into the house as well. Yet every other weekend she goes down there. It's only a matter of time before she walks in there, and I have a bad feeling about what could happen.
It's the house she grew up in as a child, I get it. But that time is gone. My grandparents have been dead for awhile, it's time to move on. Nothing good will come of going down there, yet I can't convince her to just walk the fuck away. To be perfectly honest I've contemplated just burning the place down. I won't do it, but I could easily get away with it. I'd rather have it burned down than have her walk in there alone and something bad happen to her.