Among all the labors of mankind, nothing seems to say, “I am no longer a spring chicken,” quite like that of heading to the lawyer’s office to update one’s last will and testament. We start life young and carefree, proceed into the exciting yet tumultuous teen years, make it into our young adult life, marry, have children and fill out our first will with a cavalier “it doesn’t really matter what is in this puppy, I am going to live forever anyway” attitude.
And then the weirdest thing happens; your kids somehow end up almost as old as you were when you got married. And, though I know this will come as a “shock,” they start to make sarcastic quips about nursing homes for you.
And then the wife (somehow it is almost always the wife) says, “By the way, I made us an appointment to update our will.” That, of all of this, pains me the most. How could she, of all people, doubt my invincibility? I mean, other than the recent tear in my calf while trying to play basketball, my fall from the tree last year while cutting a high branch and my kayaking of our river while it was at flood stage the summer before that, how could she imagine that an update to the will could ever be a necessary thing?
My three children, though, clearly know of this appointment. I know this because they have all been particularly sweet to me recently. If I did not have a good memory of their facetious yet sarcastic comments in the not too distant past about prune juice and home health care, I would almost be tempted to believe their flattery about my strength and wisdom and regal bearing.
Making out or updating a will is never as easy as it sounds. Mind you, if this were Old Testament times, we would simply give the firstborn man child a double portion and then split the rest up as between the youngers. But since Paul made it clear in Romans 6:14-15 that we are under grace, not law, we have leeway to arrange wills in this dispensation as we see fit. And as most any parent knows, daughters are a bit more likely to tend to aging parents, while sons are probably going to send a periodic (as in, bimonthly or so) text saying, “S’up? Y’all good? K!” so there is definitely that to consider.