Because You Never Know

If the last year or so has taught me anything, it has taught me that you can never take anything for granted. We all tell ourselves that you never know what might happen, but deep down, we also tell ourselves that it won't happen to us. About a year and a half ago, my friend Sally's husband was hit by a car while walking in a crosswalk (he is okay now, but I can't imagine the horror they went through). A little over a year ago, my cousin's ex-girlfriend, just finishing up nursing school, died from an accidental prescription drug overdose. Last fall, a friend lost her unborn twins in a car accident. In January, I got the call that Adam had died: only 20 years old--and gone. And in February, Ashley lost her brother-in-law, a high school administrator, from flu complications in a heartbreaking turn of events.

You never know. Those words sound so different to me than they did a year ago.

For many of the events above, I was part of, or privvy to, not only the event itself, but the aftermath. In addition to the heartache, each loss or emergency came with its share of logistical nightmares. I have said it before, and I will say it again: a little preparation will do more than you can imagine to save the ones you love from additional headaches and heartache. I have learned that, really, you never know what will happen. But I have also learned that you can do a lot to get ready for it.

In March, Dan and I took some initial steps to prepare for the unthinkable, which you can read about here. Over the weekend, we completed our wills as well as paperwork for our advanced health care directives, medical power of attorney, and general durable power of attorney, who is empowered to handle our financial matters. (If anyone would like help with locating info on any or all of the above, feel free to contact me and I'll be happy to help you out.)

For the most part, that has taken care of all the people in my life should something tragic occur, but I realized that doesn't take care of everything. If you are anything like me, your pets are not just animals that happen to live in your house; they are family. In our wills, Dan and I included provisions about who would care for our pets (after discussing it with the person, of course) should anything happen to us. When my sister came to visit in July, she brought me an ASPCA Grab 'n Go bag which is used for emergency pet preparedness (my sister works in an animal shelter, and she received it at no cost). For all of my preparations above, preparing for an emergency with my cats was not something I had really thought through, and I used the bag my sister gave me to get started over the weekend. It only took me about thirty minutes to get everything together (e.g., medical and microchip information, emergency contact information, pictures of my cats, info about local pet boarding facilities, a list of hotels that accept pets). The ASPCA has a good resources here and here for emergency pet preparedness. For over a year, Dan and I have also had a sticker on our front door that alerts emergency personnel that there are cats in our home; you can order one for free.

In addition to learning that you never know, there are two other things I've learned: 1) Putting together all of the above has not proved as difficult as I thought it might be and 2) Once it's done, you will feel so much better.