I have learned through experience that everyone, no matter your age needs to have a plan. If you are recently divorced, you are realizing that all the things you thought your partner would do for you is over. If you are parenting alone or co-parenting, you need a plan that assures your future and the future of your children. And if you remarry, you definitely need a plan for your children.
Dying is not the issue. It is inevitable the we will die. It is living that you are planning for.
My parents died of cancer in their early sixties. Way too early and way too young. Cancer does not discriminate; cancer can happen to anyone. I can say that cancer can create a valuable end of life experience. There is time to say good bye and “I love you,” there is time to talk and understand and impart last stories. And there is time to plan.
My in-laws are aging, and I am learning about another way of dying, Alzheimer’s. The incapacity to remember and the inability to plan. There are four important documents for every family.