Sometimes Love Looks Like a Bowl of Cold Water

Every morning on my run, my dog makes a stop at a house in the neighborhood where a very kind woman leaves out ice water for passing dogs. Every day, she fills a heavy bowl, places it in the shade under a tree, and freezes a huge block of ice so that the water stays cold even on hot days. It takes planning, effort and valuable freezer space.

And yet, she does it anyway.

She doesn't know which dogs will come by. But every day, she does this small thing to make life a little easier for these four-legged neighbors she'll likely never know.

It got me thinking about the ways we care for the people we love.

When people hear me talk about estate planning and death readiness, they often imagine a massive undertaking: complicated legal documents, difficult conversations, and hours of organization. It’s easy to become overwhelmed and decide to tackle it “someday.”

But what if you didn't have to do everything at once? What if you just did one thing?

One podcast listener emailed me this weekend to say that the worksheet I shared—Healthscape: My Health Story and Who Knows How to Fix Me—was a lifesaver. Literally.

In an emergency, the people who love us are often expected to make decisions, communicate with doctors, and advocate on our behalf. Yet many of us have never taken the time to write down the information they would need.

You don't have to create the perfect estate plan in a weekend. But you can fill out a health information sheet. Write down your medications, your doctors and your medical history. None of these tasks takes very long. But each one has the potential to make an incredibly difficult situation easier for the people who care about you.

Here’s a copy of the Healthscape: My Health Story and Who Knows How to Fix Me worksheet. Take ten minutes to complete it. Then share it with someone who might need to advocate for you someday.

Death readiness isn't always about grand gestures. More often, it's about small acts of love carried out in advance. Sometimes love looks like a bowl of cold water waiting under a tree. And sometimes it looks like making life a little easier for the people who love you most.