Because You Just Never Know
We go about our daily lives rushing from project to project, checking things off our to-do lists and assuming that what we didn’t get to today we will be able to tackle tomorrow. But every now and then something happens to remind me how fleeting life really is. It is these events that help me remember to slow down and focus on the things I care most about.
I have collaborated for the past year with a bright young attorney named Sarah on an article to be published this May in the Colorado Lawyer magazine. I have never met her in person. The editor of the magazine paired us together for this project and we have been sending drafts back and forth via email.
A few weeks ago I sent Sarah what I believed was the final version of the article and was waiting for her thoughts. She was usually very prompt with her replies. After about 10 days, I received a somewhat shocking email from our editor. She told me that Sarah had suffered a brief illness and died. She was 30 years old.
Although I really didn’t know Sarah personally, her death in the prime of her life hit me profoundly. I spend my days helping people plan for their deaths. What happened to Sarah drove home the fact that this is not just an intellectual exercise. We will, of course, all die. We cannot generally control how or when. All we can do is make sure that we have put in place a plan to make our passing as easy as possible for our loved ones. This is the wrong thing to put at the bottom of our to-do lists.
I encourage all of you who have been putting off this important task to make it a top priority. Think of it as your emotional spring cleaning. And now if you will excuse me, I have two beautiful children and a wonderful husband I need to go hug!
by Jodie Gilbert
