Pieces of Me
Family Care Partner
Perpetual Planner
Do It Yourselfer
End-of-Life Enthusiast
Family Care Partner
Perpetual Planner
Do It Yourselfer
End-of-Life Enthusiast
Last fall my godmother and aunt Margaret suddenly began to experience the symptoms of her Parkinson's. Since I'd just left a job and they live just 40 minutes away, I decided to see how I could help wrangle some resources and make some helpful connections, as this disease was quickly transforming both my aunt and uncle into shells of the people I'd known and loved.
I think we all ended up experiencing, for different reasons, the toughest 9 months of our adult lives, but I'm happy to report that, in retrospect, we all came a long way and it was so worth it. My aunt and her primary caregiver, my uncle, now have the support and community they need to live their best lives and I'm back to being their super-fun niece putting together the pieces of my own new life.
Sending a hug to all of you who can relate.
A natural planner, I've loved checking things off my list since I could write. Ever heard of a Life Plan? Well, I'm one of those nerds who's had one since 2016. I fully reevaluate my life plan each year, take a look at it mid-year, and frequently revisit it to be sure I'm on track with what I determined, during times of reflection, were the most important for me to give my time and energy to this year. Next level planning at its finest.
Anyway, my penchant for planning made me a natural in my former career planning events of all shapes and sizes. My time working as a freelancer and contractor for Yahoo took my event planning skills to the next level and I'm psyched to now put my planning power to use helping others see and experience the value of planning for themselves.
Fellow DIYers and life long learners might relate to my joy in seeing a 5-week End-of-Life (EOL) document preparation workshop being offered locally. 'Complete my will' had been lingering on my life plan for years, but I had so many dang questions and didn't want to hire a lawyer if I didn't have to, so this was made for me.
I threw myself all in and realized just how dang fascinating and fun I found it to learn more about the EOL world - from death doulas to hospice to probate to Transfer on Death Deeds to POAs to cremation to advance directives and EOL rights and so much more. When the class ended I walked away with all my docs beautifully notarized and a sense of satisfaction and relief I'd been craving for years.
If I can do it, so can you.
When my EOL course ended, I didn't. There was still so much to research and document that I spent another 6 weeks creating "I Just Died..." instruction sheets for my executor and co-executor, organizing all the details so there'd be no questions as to what to expect with my house and all the other accounts in my name. I even sat down with my local probate judge to get her thumbs up - no probate for me!
All of that was a TON of work, but I did it 'cause I knew if I wanted to help others with their DIY EOL planning, I needed to take it as far as I could. It's already helped, as I volunteered at the latest EOL workshop and the instructor was happy to start using some of the templates I'd improved. He's even excited that I'm looking into launching EOL planning workshops of my own in 2026, so stay tuned!