I’d like to think that I am the type of girl who is always prepared. The Virgo in me is a constant organizer, planning and prepping my life and life event around me. I thought that I had it all in the bag, but recently found out that when life happens, sometimes, things can catch you off guard.
As I have blogged before, my father has been sick for some time. He has diabetes and suffers from congestive heart failure and other complications including kidney failure and obesity. I travel a lot, but I always make sure that my dad is in good hands when I am away. I thought I had everything covered—then reality happened.
My father got sick while I was out of town. And with me being an only child and my father and mother being divorced since I was 18, my dad is usually my responsibility. My father has a written directive leaving me in charge of his medical care and decisions if he is incapacitated or not able to make choices on his own, and during this medical emergency, he was not able to make any decisions. With me being miles and miles away, we were in a state of dilemma.
I was frustrated because, even in my planning, I failed to leave someone in charge while I was away. Someone who could make decisions on my father’s behalf until I was able to get back home. And the whole time I was trying to get home, I was in a panicked state wondering if something would happen to my dad before I got back to St. Louis.
Suffice to say, everything ended okay and my dad is doing better. But, it didn’t alleviate the issue. So now I have two people who are in place to make decisions on my father’s behalf, should I be out of town or away. His physician and hospital also has the information, which has also been notarized and signed off my an attorney regarding his medical care.
It’s so frustrating when you think you’ve thought of everything, only to be given an example of the fact that you haven’t thought of everything. Luckily for my father and I, everything turned out well.
September is Life Insurance Awareness Month, and a perfect time to make sure that your insurance needs are in order for you and your family.
Per The LIFE Foundation:
Life Insurance Awareness Month was created by The LIFE Foundation in 2004 in response to growing concern about the large number of Americans who lack adequate life insurance protection. The national public awareness campaign is designed to get Americans to take stock of their life insurance needs and to hopefully obtain the coverage they need to safeguard their families’ financial futures.
Learn more about Life Insurance Awareness Month and The LIFE Foundation by visiting LifeHappens.org. You can visit these links for resources:
Life insurance 101 / basics: www.lifehappens.org/lifeinsurance
Life Insurance Needs Calculator: www.lifehappens.org/howmuch
Life insurance product guide: www.lifehappens.org/whatkind
In honor of Life Insurance Awareness Month, the nonprofit LIFE Foundation is giving away great prizes for the best Life Happens moments. You can enter the contest any time before Friday, October 7th. Make sure to encourage your friends and family to vote for your story as the Life Happens moments with the most votes will win (voting ends Friday, October 14th). First place will receive an Apple iPad® , second place will receive a $350 Apple gift card and third place will receive a $150 Amazon gift card.
Life Happens. And while you can’t control the future, you can take steps to protect the good things in life. Take a look around The LIFE Foundation website and learn more about how life insurance can help safeguard a secure financial future for those you love.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of The LIFE Foundation. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Contest Rules
