As I sit down to write this, gloomy freezing raindrops and gray skies mirror the intensely serious and stormy mood that’s taken hold of my loved ones this February. Conversations are enveloped in worry, weary out-of-town relatives split time between hospitals and homes, and the notions of love, loss, and responsibility weigh heavy on all of our minds. My 65-year-old Uncle is sick, and appears to be losing his battle today. And as I watch my mom alternate between turns as upbeat hostess, grieving sister, supportive friend, and strong mother, I’m reminded how lucky I am to have her in my life, and how precarious life can be at times.
I spend a lot of time on The Budgeting Babe writing and worrying about savings, investments, financial security, and future stability. But in the end, no matter how financially prepared – or unprepared – I as an individual might be for the dealings of daily life, I am wholly unprepared for dealings with sickness and death. My age probably has something to do with that – I don’t know anyone in her 30′s who spends time making sure his/her own papers are in order. And my parents are young, in their 50′s; I know they’ve started pulling together paperwork (my mom just told me she has a kit set up) but truthfully I don’t want to spend any time at all thinking about days when they might not be here.
But, because I was curious and also because I’m just sitting around my parents’ house waiting for a phone call from the hospital, I Googled “life death financial planning” and found this disaster plan on Wise Up Women (a site I had never heard of before). It’s a good checklist to browse and a nice starting point for someone like me for whom financial disaster planning isn’t top of mind most days. I’m going to start exploring the web site for other tips, make a few notes to myself, and start compiling a disaster plan of my own, and also make sure I know where my parents’ plans are.
Then, I am going to return to praying for my Uncle to pull through this, and for my family to find peace.
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