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I overheard two women talking in a restaurant the other day about wills and estate planning.
When they got up to go to the ladies room, I followed them, as I wanted to hear the rest of their conversation. It’s common for women to go to the bathroom in herds, so I didn’t feel they’d notice my pulling a draft on them.
With my ear pressed against the bathroom stall wall, I heard them talking about who to give items to while they are still alive so they don’t leave the burden of distribution to a loved one.
I got to thinking, and it did make sense, to gift items to folks now rather than to wait and have it done by a judge. So I went home and looked around at all the stuff I wanted to give away.
I decided to give my mom a lovely dining room set she’s always wanted. It made her day.
Next on my list was an expensive set of dishes my friend had been adoring, so off they went to her abode.
Some relatives even came out of the woodwork for my stuff, as I imagined they would have, had I actually died.
Anyway, I was really feeling good about my “house cleaning,” if you will, as space was beginning to open up in our home. After all, we really don’t know how long we have, and no one lives forever.
By the end of the week, I had distributed almost all of my worldly goods to family and friends, saving lots of money in attorney fees to facilitate the job later.
The last thing to go was a beautiful bedroom set my husband and I were given when we got married. Rooms look so much roomier without 60 years of acquired stuff.
At first, my husband didn’t notice, but as we started having more open spaces and less clutter he got curious. I told him I was saving him a lot of trouble should something happen to me before his own demise. He nodded and went on out to his shed.
After two weeks, I sat in the center of an empty living room floor wondering if I had acted a little too quickly in giving everything away. It didn’t really “hit me” until my husband came home and asked where our bed was. I sheepishly pointed to an air mattress in the corner.
I thought I’d help hubby out as well since I was already on a “gifting roll.”
My husband has never raised his voice at me. However, when he asked where his old baseball memorabilia was, I feared he just might. All I could say to him was for him to contact my Uncle Vinny – he likes baseball, too.
Good lord, I fearfully thought to myself, it would be just my luck to live to be 100 years old without a single possession.
When I noticed the look in my husband’s eyes after realizing we had nothing left to call our own, I ran as fast as I could for fear he’d give me away.
Anngee Quinones-Belian lives in Murphy. She loves humor and believes the world needs more of it. Email her at anngeeq@gmail.com.