Morbid Post

Well, not really that morbid but I am going to skate really close to the issue of "what if one of your kids were to die before you?"

I know its not a fun topic. It ranks up there with making out your Will and having the discussion with your wife on if you should pull the plug should you wind up in a vegetative state. This topic is probably worse though. Both my parents and my wife's have had the unfortunate circumstance of living beyond one of their children. My wife's brother passed away many years ago due to a bicycle accident and my sister collapsed out of the blue playing recreational volleyball.

Now I'm not here to have a pity party on behalf of my wife and I's losses. We have coped with them and have moved passed. What I want to talk about today is what happens if one of your kids passes. Are you going to be prepared? Mentally, I don't think anyone could be prepared, but what I am talking about is Life Insurance. Trust me I'm not starting an insurance agency or anything and will totally delete anyone's comments on this post that try to sell it.

Why I am bringing this up today is that something recently happened with my middle daughter's policy and after talking to my wife, we were really glad we signed her up for Life Insurance when she was about a month old. As I have mentioned on her before, my middle daughter has recently been diagnosed with McCune-Albright Syndrome. Hardly a life threatening disease but something we will need to monitor throughout her life.

About the same time we were going through all the diagnosis stuff and other fun, we met with our Financial Adviser (same person who gets us our life insurance) to get our youngest set up for a Savings account he can't touch and life insurance. We've done this exercise with our other kids shortly after their births. When we sat down with our Adviser she thought that it might be a good idea to bump up our girls policies also. We agreed and filed the paperwork.

Our Life Insurance provider sent us a letter back stating that Lucy (our middle) was denied any more coverage due to her diagnosis of McCune-Albright. Of course my wife and I were kind of taken back with this news, but also looking at the big picture, we thought, if we wouldn't have signed her up right after she was born, she wouldn't be able to get any life insurance. I do want to make a small disclaimer that we aren't talking about a large sum of money, just enough to cover some funeral costs.

Anyway, that's my story and while we don't really give much solid advice on this site, I really think you should sit down with your significant other and consider life insurance for your kid if they don't already have some.

**I will say this again, if anyone leaves a comment on here trying to sell Life Insurance, it will get deleted. This is meant to be an informative post for parents, not a free for all for Insurance agents.

When it freezing rains, it pours.

My grandpa passed away last week (RIP Grandpa Graham). He had been in the hospital and/or hospice for a couple of weeks, which is actually just about the perfect amount of time (you get to say your goodbyes and come to grips but it doesn't really drag on). He was comfortable and at peace when he passed. Since then, things have gone a little wonky for me.

As a bid-ness man, I already had travel plans set for the weekend (to San Antonio for a user group summit), as well as separate plans for this week (a work trip to Utah), capped off by even more plans for next weekend (skiing in Wisconsin). As Grandpa's funeral was scheduled for Saturday back in Canton, Ohio, I immediately cancelled my trip to San Antonio (the second year in a row I cancelled said trip at the last minute) so I could pack up the family truckster after school Friday and head home for the funeral.

We knew there was some bad weather, and that it would be slow-going, so we pricelined a hotel in Columbus and set out. After it took us 3 hours to get an hour outside of town, we decided to pull back. The ice was so bad I literally had to keep moving because if I came to a complete stop on the exit ramp I would start sliding. I've never seen that.

In any event we turned back and, with the kids done driving and having already been promised a night in a hotel we ended up paying for a second room not terrifically far from our house. The bright side? Hotel KFC.

Lucas was still not feeling great from the car.

So, at the end of the weekend, I've lost my Grandpa, I've missed the funeral AND a work trip, I've paid for two hotel rooms on the same night, and I've been hugely stressed about all of it.

On the bright side? Got to go swimming with my kids at the hotel and made it back just in time to see my oldest's last Pinewood Derby race ever.

That's an award winner.

Back on the not-bright side? Missed my flight to Utah this morning*. Luckily I got on a later one, but I made my travelling companions take the early flight because it made more sense (sorry Matt and Sanjay) so I feel awful (really, really sorry).

Rest in peace, Grandpa.

* No, I didn't sleep through my alarm. My phone was off**. My phone had just died when I went to bed so I plugged it in. I have done this one hundred times before, and every time my iPhone turns itself back on once it has enough juice, and I was so tired I literally fell asleep before the little thing started spinning. Not this morning. Woke up just in time to realize my flight was taking off.


** Others (including Matt) had warned me off of trusting the iPhone alarm. In my own defense, it had never let me down before, and I have a hard time learning from the misfortune of others.