One day when sitting with a group of friends, after playing golf, the question came up, “What section of the newspaper do you read first?”

After a lot of banter about our local newspaper not being what it used to be, each of us shared what we read first. My younger and feistier friend reads the sports page first. My older and more morbid friend (just kidding) reads the obits. We laughed when she shared this and asked her if she was checking to see if she is still alive! Being the high-end extrovert that I am, of course, I read the For Your Information section, or the social portion of the paper. It’s light. It has the crossword, movies and the horoscope. All things that are life changers! Right? This part of the paper also contains recipes and the names of those people about town who make the best baklava, or best stroganoff and how they pass the recipes from generation to generation.

Are You Ready? Wills and Healthcare Directives

Recently, however, a very serious article labeled, ARE YOU READY? appeared on Kansas-City.com. The article begins out talking about New Year’s resolutions and encourages readers to get one’s affairs in order. This particular article, in the light and fluffy section of the paper, was about wills and healthcare directives.

To say the least, I was shocked. This is my stuff. My area of expertise. The matters that for over twenty years I tried to educate healthcare professionals and citizen/clients to address with many, many a frustration! The body of the article talks about how to legally approach and get one’s will in order … make decisions about your assets, do the legal work regarding beneficiaries. There is an example of a second marriage where a man never changed the beneficiary of his 401(k) to his second wife. Poor thing! She didn’t get a dime, but the mean, old, never spoken to in 10 years first wife got every penny!

Additionally, the article links the readers to the Center for Practical Bioethics web site to assist them with an advance directive or living will, help in choosing the person they would want to speak for them if they were no longer able to due to illness or loss of capacity. Readers are encouraged to think about organ donation and other life-sustaining interventions. The Center even offers a workbook for specifically for young adults.

Needless to say, I was amazed … my social, light and fluffy section of the paper provides not only recipes for foodies but recipes for a good death