Recently, Amy and I experienced the death of a very dear friend, very dear, indeed. Among his many virtues was that he loved his family very much. Went to visit them; talked with them by every available medium; spoke of them lovingly and often. Sent us photographs!
One of the ways to love the following generation is to tend with care to the details regarding the end of life. Our very dear friend, tho’ he surely loved his family, did not choose this particular caring way to show it. When he died, there was no will, no documents regarding powers of attorney, no notes or directions that would help his children knows his mind or heart about anything. They were left to figure all that out, and to await court action that would eventually allow them to dispose of property and move on. This will almost certainly prove to be a long and doubtless difficult enterprise.
Learning about all this caused Amy and me to want to make sure our end-of-life documents were in the kind of loving condition that would demonstrate to the next generation our care and love for them. We discovered that our wills are ten years old so we have made an appointment with our lawyer to review them, and to review their companion documents, almost all of them almost as old.
We have also reviewed our funeral plans and have begun to amend them as necessary. Once this is accomplished, we will file them at the St. Stephen’s office, replacing the documents already on file there. If you need counsel about this, I know Paul stands ready to assist.
Some of you will remember, from Adult Forum sessions, that Amy and I have urged attention to all these matters more than once. Please add my current urgings to that list. Getting your end-of-life documents in order is a loving thing to do, plain and simple. No matter your age, no matter your family circumstance. And, certainly, doing this now is better than leaving to later.
I wish I knew a kindly, gentle but firm way to get you each and all to do what I’m asking you to do. But alas, I know of no such means. However, if I find that people I love choose to leave all this undone, I promise I will be enormously disappointed. And, heaven only knows, no right-thinking person wants that to happen!
