When Aretha Franklin died in 2018, her estate was estimated to be worth $80 million. That’s a lot of money. At first the news was that she died without a will, leaving confusion behind as to how to distribute the estate. She was the mother of four sons: Clarence, Edward, Teddy, and Kefcalf. After her death, however, her family uncovered three handwritten wills hidden in her home. The wills present different scenarios for the distribution of her estate. The brothers are fighting over the estate. The court case is trying to sort out the mystery of her intentions. There are plenty of questions. Does the will found in a secret drawer supersede the will the was found down the back of the sofa? Does the doodles-on, spiral-bound document trump the more formal but earlier one? Who gets the fortune, and will they get the fortune before the fortune runs out?

I have no inside information. I and not a legal expert. And I don’t know what is right in the dispute between the brothers. But I do understand how important things get lost in the sofa.

When our grandchildren visit our home common kitchen items sometimes are used as toys. Wooden spoons, spatulas, measuring cups and other items offer opportunities to play with the items that the children see us using in everyday life. Most of our kitchen utensils are washed in the dishwasher that uses hot water to sanitize the dishes. Since lots of the things handled by the youngest ones end up in their mouths, we try to make sure that the items they handle are clean and as free from germs as possible. Many kitchen objects have no sharp edges and are safe for small hands to manipulate. We have toys, but children often prefer “real” items.

I know that I saw our youngest grandson playing with a small silicone scraper that I like to use when preparing small servings of food. I often use it to scoop a bit of yogurt from a measuring cup. Somehow, however, that particular utensil has gone temporarily missing. I’ve checked the obvious places: the toy box in the living room, under the dining room table, on the carpet in front of the fireplace. So far the little item hasn’t turned up. I know we will find it, and chances are that when we do its location will surprise us. We are careful to watch our grandchildren when the are at our house. They are never left alone or unsupervised, but there are things we fail to notice.

And yes, I have looked for that little scraper in the sofa. I have removed the cushions. I found a pen, several lego bricks, and a popsicle stick. We don’t allow the children to eat while sitting in the living room furniture. The popsicle stick didn’t come from a popsicle. It was likely one of the items in the craft box that we keep for art projects that seem to be common whenever our granddaughters are at our house. Last night they were making birthday cards for their mother whose birthday is today. I don’t remember seeing any popsicle sticks as part of the cards, so the stick might have been in the sofa from another crafting time. Who knows? It might have been there for several weeks.

I understand how important things can get lost. I understand how things might turn up in the sofa. I hope the lawyers and judges take the will found in Aretha Franklin’s sofa seriously. It may not be the only important document, but just because it was in the sofa doesn’t mean that it isn’t important.

Our last wills and testaments are on file at the offices of the attorney who drafted them for us. We have copies in our fireproof box and we have shared them with our children. But it has been some time since they were drafted and we intend to have new documents drawn up sometime in the next year that comply with the laws in the state of our new home and mention the grandchildren who have been born since the other documents were drawn up. Over the years as our circumstances have changed, we have needed to have our final wishes restated. When we had our first wills drawn up, we had little money, but we wanted the custody of our son to be clear if something happened to both of us. Then, just a couple of years later, we had a daughter and needed to revise our wills. In fact the status of our wills was one question the judge asked me at her adoption finalization hearing. At the time I resented having to pay the whole price of having new wills drafted just to add the name of one child. I understand how Aretha Franklin could have more than one will. I also understand how she might have not run every draft by lawyers despite having enough money to make those legal fees seem small. Sometimes you can intend to get to the lawyer, but put off making an appointment when other things take precedence.

Not knowing the whole story, there is enough mystery and intrigue in the news reports that I have read to make the story of Aretha Franklin’s missing wills interesting. The stories hold my attention. Maybe something lost will be discovered that makes a big difference. Maybe one of the sons will inherit something that somehow softens the grief of the death of his mother. Maybe there are some hidden riches that change the amount of the estate to be distributed. Did she have some jewelry that also was hidden somewhere in her home? Could a stray diamond have fallen into the sofa along with the paperwork behind the cushions? Was there a suitcase of cash stashed somewhere in the back of a closet?

The good news for our children and grandchildren is that we don’t have enough possessions for a good fight. We haven’t acquired enough to make our estate interesting to high priced attorneys. Our legacy will be love, not financial security. Our story won’t make the news.

Still, I wish I could find that little spatula. Maybe I should take the cushions off of the sofa and look one more time.