Make it Your Objective to Get a Directive!

Because this post has a somber tone, I'm recommending a wine pairing beforehand: open a nice, chilled dry rosé in honor of the summer! Think cheerful watermelon and strawberry flavors and pair it with some Parmesan or olives. Yum!

Before I get into the somber stuff, I have to make a few side points regarding pink wine. It's always annoying to me how folks in the wine industry are perplexed that "the people" are hesitant to drink rosé. We've been making fun of White Zin drinkers for years, yet expect wine consumers to love dry rosé? As if normal people have time to distinguish between cool and uncool pink wines!!!

So I'm putting a stop to this stupid debate. In general, drink what you like! If you like rosé, super. And if you like White Zin, more power to you -- know that your people actually saved Zinfandel plannings back in the day. Before Sutter home invented White Zin, California producers were ripping Zinfandel vines out! (White Zin is made from the usual red Zin grapes -- the skin is removed after a short time; hence the pink color, and sugar is added; hence the wine snobs making fun of you).

Ok, onto my blog post. I went to a new doctor this morning to discuss my ridiculously bad allergies -- think very puffy red eyes, frequent attacks of eye pain (where closing them and keeping them open is awful), sore throat and uncontrollable sneezing. I was impressed as he went through a comprehensive set of questions regarding my physical and mental health and illness history in addition to my current set of woes. When he asked if I had a living well, I felt pretty good about being able to answer yes. (And I was super impressed when he asked to have a copy for their files.)

After the Schiavo case that had all of the media attention in 2005 (I guess there was no "depression" or "recession" looming that spring), I made it a priority to get a living will. I knew that I would not want to be kept on life support in the event of an "incurable and irreversible condition that will result in my death" or "persistent vegetative state". And that I certainly wouldn't want my family fighting over it! So I went onto Legalzoom, and 15 minutes and $40 later, I had a living will en route in the mail. When it arrived, I had three required witnesses sign it (sort of an awkward thing to ask your co-workers, but hopefully they're over it), got it notarized, informed my then boyfriend and family, and then filed it away until today.

I've had several life changes since I wrote it -- namely moving and getting married, so I realized that I need to update it. And get a last will. As easy as it would be to "do it later" or wait until I have a bigger nest egg, the reality is that as a LMF4HMW, I owe it to myself and my family to get this done ASAP. It's relatively cheap and painless, and saves a lot of heartache and tax payer money in the long run. (I recently heard a story about a 39- year old man who died in a car accident and how his estate is being tragically held up in the court system since he didn't have the proper directives in place. His wife, in the middle of this nightmare, has to battle with court appointed lawyers over what he "would have wanted". Not cool.)

While I usually write about saving money, today's post is about spending money on something very, very important. Take the time to get living and last wills so that your wishes are properly executed. If not for yourself, do it for your family and friends, whom I'd personally rather have enjoying a helluva wine and celebrating my life when I kick the can; definitely not arguing in court or with each other!