“This house is not for you. You should be in assisted-living. You will never again be able to climb the stairs, or even get into the kitchen, past all this clutter.”
I’m sure she’s right. But once I heard the word never I stopped listening.
Because in my mind, this is my only life. And I believe that really anything could happen tomorrow. No one knows the future. She can’t know the future.
I could live another fifty years! And I do not want to live another fifty years in assisted-living. I wouldn’t want to pay for that anyway. I’d like to use that money to travel, maybe. Or make accessibility improvements to my current home. Or buy a lakehouse as a second home.
Never or always
In our house we say, “In case of emergency, break glass.” It’s important to us to have some sort of “safety net.” That is kinda how we plan. Just know what you’re going to do next if it all goes to hell. What is your next, first step?
Then don’t spend your precious life, the only one you have, obsessing over it. If you believe in a God or some sort of benevolent hand, it will all work out. If you don’t, you can just say “S@#t happens.” You’ll wake up tomorrow either way. You can start dealing with it then.
It happens to me frequently (although some may say I’m just framing these incidents in my life as “emergencies.”)
Just one example
As an example: the wheelchair.
Years ago I asked for a prescription for one from my neurologist. Next I went to a “wheelchair store” and saw that everything was like $3000 and up. And when I contacted my health insurance provider about it, they basically told me to come back after I’d met my $2500 deductible first.
Since I was still walking, albeit with a cane, and there were other health issues going on in our house at the time, I didn’t think it met any level of urgent yet.
Some time later, we found a used one for free on Craigslist. As that seat wore out and the wheels began to deteriorate, we found a $300 one at the local Walgreen’s (although pricier than free, it was no $3000!).
This year my most recent one did come from my health insurance. It is very basic, but they bought it for $1260 and I only paid a copay of $4.13.
Time passes, s@#t happens, we live our lives the best, and happiest, way we can.
What I’ve learned this week