Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Uncomfortable, Yet Necessary

Wisdom from a 21-month old:


I may not have lived long, but I've lived long enough to learn that there are lots of situations in this life that are incredibly uncomfortable...yet incredibly necessary.

In the world of toddlers, such situations include diaper changes, immunizations, rectal temperature checks, throat swabs, and forced fingernail clippings.  I'm sure other tots could easily add to this list, but those situations are all fresh on my mind since I've encountered each of them in the last week.

As humans age, so I've been told, the situations can get even more uncomfortable.  Here are a few uncomfortable, yet necesarry (U, YN) things Mommy and Daddy are currently in the midst of sorting out:
Growing back their savings account (after a year of Mommy staying at home)
  • Evaluating their current financial situation and planning for the future.
  • Regrowing their savings account after a year of Mommy staying at home.
  • Determining who my guardian will be in the unlikely event that they both pass away.
  • Creating a will.
See what I mean?  Uncomfortable? Yes. Necessary? Also a yes.

Mommy tells me* that the biggest difference between the U, YN situations that toddlers and adults find themselves in this:  There is no one forcing the adults to engage in the U, YN tasks.  They must be self-disciplined enough to self-engage.
Hmm, maybe that's why my parent's U, YN list includes those last two items.

Right after completing a Will Questionnaire this afternoon, Mommy came across this blog post on "The Simple Dollar".  It's all about having uncomfortable, yet necessary conversations with family members regarding plans for their (and your) estate.  Mommy highly suggests this read for any of you who have not had these discussions with your parents, grandparents, and/or siblings. 

In fact, Mommy and Daddy will be doing some of this discussing with family members this week...especially since almost all of them will be in town for Thanksgiving.  (Moss/Pierce clan readers...consider this your warning!)

All of this uncomfortable thinking has left Mommy wondering if my parent readers have chosen a guardian for their children.  If you have, how did you decide who the guardian would be?  If you haven't, why not?

*The biggest difference my toddler eyes can see between the U, YN situations of toddlers and adults is that there are no Dum Dum Pops or Elmo stickers awaiting the adults.  I think I'll stick with toddler uncomfortableness for now, thank you very much!

4 comments:

Jessica Miller Kelley said...

We chose Matt's brother and his wife over either set of parents because (a) then our children could be raised with their (yet unborn) cousins and have parents similar to their peers, rather than being the oddball raised by old people. And (b) since I am an only child, this saved us from arbitrarily picking one side of the family over the other.

Honestly, I hope that at some point we'll be close enough with some friends of similar values that we can make them the designated guardians.

Bradshaw's Buzz said...

We haven't decided who. Besides our parents - jointly - we don't know. If they are gone before Austin is of age, we aren't sure who :(

Anonymous said...

I struggle with this question...other than my mom, no else seems to fit the bill to raise my precious child. It usually brings me to tears just thinking about it.

Kelly Chambers said...

We struggle with the same decision. Definitely not fun to think about!