Getting a Will
Before our son Drake was born, one of the things on my husband G. Grod’s and my long to-do list was to get a lawyer and set up wills. We got a recommendation from our financial guy, then met twice with the lawyer, once to discuss what types of wills we wanted to have, and to get paperwork to go over so that when we met the second time we’d finalize the wills.
A lot of the paperwork was about what each of us wanted to be done if we were incapacitated. I was surprised to learn how differently we felt from one another. One of us wanted to be kept alive if at all possible, the other wanted no extraordinary means. We’d talked about these things in generalities before, but filling out the detailed questionnaires made each of our views very clear to one another. When we met with the lawyer the second time, we put those wishes on paper, and got them signed. We also chose who would look after Drake, in person and financially, if something were to happen to us.
We had a zillion things to do in the days before Drake was born, but getting our wills was one of the best expenditures of time and money I can think of. Do you have a will? Does someone know for certain what your wishes are if something unexpected were to happen? It’s a little time, and a little money. But it’s nothing when you compare it to the wretched alternative unfolding in the news.
March 26th, 2005 at 4:00 pm
It’s incredibly lame that I don’t have a real will. I’ve always thought that M.Giant should get my guitars, my former roommate gets all the unfinished writing stuff, and my brothers should divide up my books and music amongst the neices and nephews. Really, that’s all I have worth passing on.
As to the feeding tube, I guess I’m of the opinion that if 5% or 10% of people are tough enough to claw back to consciousness in the same situation, then I’d like a shot at it… but not forever. And I’m remarkably open to extreme or experimental measures, if the team has tried everything else.
And especially after reading Erik Says:
March 26th, 2005 at 4:01 pm
Uh, the book is here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/031219546X/002-1533040-9864804?v=glance
“First Cut: A Season in the Human Anatomy Lab” by Albert Howard Carter.
April 9th, 2005 at 2:20 pm
We didn’t get wills until we were about to have a child. We actually don’t have much stuff or money, so it wasn’t material issues so much as various “what ifs” that getting the wills helped us to sort out.