On Friday hubby and I went to town and bought a safe. It was something long overdue. We've been without a secure storage vault for a long time, and I've long worried about our valuables and vital documents. Birth certificates, for one, are a real pain in the behind to get copies of, and passports and such are difficult to replace. Then there are some one-of-a-kind items that can't be replaced, period; certain family heirlooms and that kind of thing.
All this had been on my mind for a while, and I'd worried a little bit, but what really got me to move on getting a safe was that we had our planning documents, advance directives and what all finalized a few weeks ago. You absolutely don't want anything to happen to those. It was a good time to get it done, while it was on our minds.
With my tendency to overthink things, I ended up spending the rest of the weekend drawing up a multi-page document detailing just about everything my next-of-kin would need to know if anything happened to me: the information they'd need to take care of the utilities and my finances, instructions on how to notify my employer and settle my various pieces of business, and so forth. There are even some personal instructions on things I don't want done (and some I do want done) after I'm gone.
That's now in the safe. And, yes, I overthought it. You're probably asking, "Well, you've done an awful lot. Planning on going anywhere soon?" Given the fact that I keep buying books and model kits, and that I keep exercising and trying to take care of myself, I would hope that indicates my desire to be healthy and stay around as long as I can. On the other hand...well, sometimes what happens isn't your call. I sure didn't enjoy doing all this, but I do feel better knowing this stuff is written down. It's one less thing to bother me. And having seen in my own family what happens when someone passes on without leaving a will or any instructions, I sure don't want that happening should the proverbial semi haulin' hogs run me over, or should that last little piece of Skylab up there with my name on it fall on me someday.
And now that this heavy stuff is taken care of, I plan to lighten up more than a little.
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