Last year my oldest friend called me to say she had been bidding on the local public television auction. She won two items, a sightseeing flight over town and a will. I told her to schedule the flight in the tiny plane second. Then I felt immensely guilty for having a child and no will. Being me, I stuck my head in the sand for the next 11 months.
Then my friend and former college advisee, now a doting stay at home dad, posted to Facebook about creating his will. Jim and I congratulated him on being more adult than we were and my head went firmly back into the sand.
A week later the public television auction rolled around. I cannot resist watching and bidding. There was an estate package this year (2 wills, 2 powers of attorney, 2 living wills, and a family trust).
The package's retail value was intimidating, but we crossed our fingers for something in our budget. We locked horns with another serious bidder and they won the auction.
Another estate package came up a few nights later. We bid on it only to find the live bidding wouldn't start until we would be out of town. I was sure that we would lose the auction with our low bid, so I made a note to call my friend to watch and bid for us. I forgot to call her.
That Saturday night my cell phone rang. It was time for live bidding. I didn't realize they would call me. I waited on the line as no one called in to bid against me. The auctioneer closed the auction. We had won.
Tonight we had our first meeting with the lawyer. All day anxiety flooded over me. In retrospect, it was a waste of energy to be so concerned. The meeting went well. I learned a lot and feel pretty assured that our kids will be loved and cared for even if Jim and I meet an untimely end.
There's some life insurance shopping to be done now, but I know what kind/amount of coverage I should be carrying.
This part of adulthood kind of sucks, but our kids deserve such provisions.
2 comments:
This is something that we have been meaning to do for years, yet we can't seem to get ourselves to commit to an appointment. Kudos to you for following through with it.
we did ours last year & i'm glad it's over with. i really struggled about what to do with the kids (who's good enough to take care of my kiddos :) ) after months of pros /cons lists; we completed our will & are relieved to have a plan in place for the kiddos that will hopefully be the least disruptive to their lives. now, the wills have been finalized & will hopefully not have to be addressed for several years from now.
glad you scored a great deal at the auction! when i was watching, they were selling a size 2 formal gown. umm, no.
also, i owe you an invite to come play. let me know if you are ever free! sara
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