Life Support

My neigbours are not doing very well. B is in the ICU, on life support. His family (who did not know anything about his health) is arriving from France tomorrow.
D, has found life support through her sisters. She is panicking, not only because of her husbands ill health, but also because his family is arriving. D and B have been together for over 20 years, but the relationship has never been acknowledged by his family because they are not married. Needless to say, D is not comfortable around 'Madame', B's mother. This is the first time anyone in B's family has been to Canada, and they are apparently all going to be staying at the Condo. 7 People staying in a one bedroom apartment.
Now, as if there is not enough panic going on in D's life, I'm going to tell you that her and B live in a pigsty. They were in France this past September, so I agreed to feed their cats for three weeks. Never in my life, have I ever seen such a dirty home. Newspapers and magazines piled high on the coffee table, clothes piles everywhere, some halfway high to the ceiling, and facial creams everywhere. I'm not talking about 5 or 10 bottles and jars, I'm talking hundreds...everywhere. On the floor, on the dining room table, on the kitchen counter, in the laundry room. I honestly think that my neighbour is a hoarder. I remember watching an Oprah episode about this not too long ago. A business woman, very well put together, but her home was a disaster.
Anyway, when she told me that his family was coming, I offered my help in cleaning, but her sisters were there, and she felt like she had enough help. She did ask me over to meet her sisters, and had asked for extra cleaning supplies. So, I went over and met three totally exhausted women. Her sisters were not shy about the mess she lived in. Her oven hadn't been cleaned since her and B had moved in 10 years ago. She didn't even know it was a self-cleaning oven. The bathroom floor was black underneathe all the face creams. Poor D was looking like her world was falling apart, and was clinging to a picture of B in better times.

And, really, I think that this best describes her situation. Her world, as she knows it, is falling apart.