For whatever reason, I periodically find myself thinking, “What if something happened to me?” We don’t have life insurance on me. At the time we applied for life insurance, mine was rejected due to “health status.” I was in wonderful health, so our assumption is that my pregnant state was the issue – I guess childbirth is a risk they aren’t willing to take. It really isn’t life insurance that comes to mind, though, when I find myself asking The Question. Life insurance is not my forte. I don’t know the difference between term life insurance and any other kind. (See, I can’t even remember what the other insurance is called!)

What comes to my mind is the research I’ve done, and preparations I’ve made, for my children, especially in the areas of health and education. While these are just as much under my husband’s authority (of course!) as everything else, they are areas he has largely entrusted to me. If anything happened to me, would he know which of our homeschool resources are for what (or even what we have)? Would he know what brand of vitamins I’ve chosen for the baby? Granted, these things are of relatively minor importance and he could certainly choose something else, but is it really necessary or desirable that he should have to “reinvent the wheel” in an emergency?

I’ve been giving some thought to addressing this problem by way of a single file on my computer. I can make up a “what if” document that has any “special instructions” he might want to have (for example, how to make goat milk formula since, if something happened to me, our baby would not be able to nurse) as well as notes regarding where to find all of the plans and records I keep. This way, I could let him know where to find the “what if” file, and that’s all he’d need to know. (It’s also all the talking we’d have to do about a less-than-pleasant subject!)