Maintenance

My dentist wants me to brush and floss three times a day, I brush three, sometimes more.  My A/C guy wants me to change my filter every month, my husband does that (thank you!).  My car company wants me to change my oil every 3,000 miles, I do every 5,000 and they want me to rotate my tires then too, can’t remember when I did that last.  My carpet cleaner wants me to have them cleaned every 12 months, I barely vacuum the few rooms that do have carpet.  My estate attorney wants me to review my documents every year ~ her suggestion is on New Years’ Day ~ I do that.  My planner wants me to update my beneficiaries every year, mine haven’t really changed in quite a while.

I could go on but you get the idea.  

I’m all for maintenance.  My car is 10 years old; it has less than 100,000 miles; it is clean; it is lubed; and it gets me where I need to go.  It’s not especially pretty on the outside but that’s not the most important thing to me.  My teeth are great!  My parents spent several thousand dollars on braces so I feel the least I can do is take care of them, they aren’t easily replaceable. 

We could spend a great deal of our time on maintenance for everything we have; material and abstract alike.  But, if we are truthful about it, most of us will opt not do anything until there is a problem.

This works in almost every case except death.  There is no backing up, no fixing, no maintenance, nothing.  Just the end with no option to say one more thing, do one more thing, fix one more thing, or maintain one more thing.

If there is one more thing that I have learned in my profession it’s to “maintenance” the things that are really important; your faith; your family; your friends; your mental, emotional and physical health.  Yes other things are important, but no one thinks about those at the end, they only think about the time you spent maintaining the relationship with them.  I’m sure these are the MOST important ones.

Tisha Diffie
After the Fact - Final Affairs
www.afterthefact-finalaffairs.com