One of the most difficult conversations to hold with people\nis the one where you ask them to walk you through their desires in the event of\ntheir passing away. It\u2019s especially difficult to have that conversation with your\naging parents at a time you know they are already feeling concerns about the\ndangers of getting the Coronavirus at their age. But the fact is it would be irresponsible\nfor any of us not to be having that conversation right now. Not because we plan\nfor anyone to die, but because the simple reality is that eventually all of us\nare going to die, and this current situation only amplifies why it is so important\nfor us to have thought through these things and gotten plans in place for whatever\nmight come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I went to see my parents the other night for what will\nprobably be the last time I\u2019ll get to see them in person for the next few\nmonths as my Mom is 77 years old and my Dad is 82 and both are high risk due to\nhealth problems they\u2019ve had so the last thing I would ever want to do is put\nthem at risk. I let them know how important\nit is for them to think through their wishes if either of them were to get sick\nand, heaven forbid, pass away. It was\nhard to bring that up to my parents but I knew it would be irresponsible not\nto, so I forced myself to go through it with them. I asked them to write down\nwhat they would want for their funerals, who they would want to have speak at\nit, what songs they would want played, etc. I asked them to reach out to all of\ntheir other children and inquire what things their children feel sentimental\nvalue for that they would want to mark as being left to them in their will. We\ntalked about how important it was to let us know where their wills are, how\nthey need to record all their accounts and passwords somewhere secure that we\ncan get to in the event of their passing, and how we\u2019d like them to walk us through\ntheir files and important papers before anyone passes so we can scan in important\nthings while they are still around to tell us what they mean and why they\nmatter. And so on\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The truth is that it wasn\u2019t a fun conversation to have for\nthem, nor was it any fun for me to think about a day when I might lose my\nparents, but I feel better knowing we\u2019ve talked about it and they are working\non putting a plan together while they are healthy and able to do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I left their home the other night I realized that rather than waiting for my own kids to come to me and have the talk I\u2019d just had with my parents, I ought to make sure I have gone through that same exercise and done my own end of life planning so that, heaven forbid, my husband or I were to pass away we will have provided our children with our wishes and instructions on how to move forward without us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then we get hit with the earthquake yesterday and I’m like, “YEP, get it done!!!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Get your end of life plan in place and encourage your loved ones to do the same. Don\u2019t think of it as planning for your death, think of it as doing an act of service for those you hold most dear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n