Hi, I’m Robert.

I go completely by Mitch, my middle name, unless we’re talking about legal documents.

And today, that’s what we’re talking about.

Specifically, I just put together my own “Advanced Health Care Directive”. Otherwise known as a Living Will.

It took me 5 minutes.

Here’s why I made this a priority today.  A friend of mine asked me to.

She just lost her husband. He was 58 years old.  The heart failure and coma were out of the blue and unexpected.  After a painful week or so of brutal decisions and waiting and praying, he passed away.

In response to all the many offers of help, she had only one request:  If you haven’t put a Living Will together, do it now.

So I did.

Most of us don’t like to think about the end.  It’s only another transition, of course, to what lies beyond, but sometimes those transitions are traumatic for those left behind.

A Living Will is basically a statement about what you want – or don’t want – done with your body if you should ever become incapacitated.

Would you want to stay on life support, even if there’s no hope of recovery?

Would you want to be fed?

Would you want pain medication?

Would you want to be an organ donor?

That’s about it, really, along with officially dedicating someone to be your representative should such a time ever come.

I went online to try and fine the easiest and cheapest option for creating a Living Will. By far, the best choice I found was this site:    http://www.totallegal.com/livingwill2.asp

There are other sites that make you join a trial membership or pay for the document, but this site puts it together for you, no strings attached.

I typed in some easy information, selected my choices, and downloaded the document. When I had it printed out, I had two folks here in the office witness me sign it, and they signed as well.

And I was done.

That’s a minor hiccup in my day’s plans, but some day it could be a source of great relief to my wife. I’d say it was time well spent.

It feels good to have made this a priority today. I feel like I’ve done a faithful and loving thing, and I hope you’ll do the same.

Remember,

Making a Living Will

Is an important part of

Living Well.

Have a great week,

Mitch