ASK THE QUESTIONS WHILE THEY CAN BE ANSWERED

I am back! I have been hiding. My husband died 3 years ago and my life really did go topsy turvy.

And we had THE LAST GIFT BOX complete, numerous conversations with our children about our wishes for our living and dying and still I was overwhelmed with the many "business" issues I was not sure about. Imagaine if I had no idea where information was or the passwords or the business people to contact.

And his stories. I had written many down so our childlren and grandchildren would know about him and us. However, as questions began to bubble up I realized all the questions I still had and have no answers to. And there is no one else to ask. He was an only child, his parents have died.

So I share a new story with you and hopefully motivate you to inquire about your partner's life, your parents, your friends. Last Tax Day, 2026 , I was 6,000 feet above the earth traveling in a metal bird to visit my very ill sister. So mnay stories of her birth, childhood, high school, college, med school, marriage, children and life adventures swirled in my mind. She is 8 years younger than I and was always very fun and funny. I see her telling a story at the dinner table the night I brought a new beau from college home to meet the family and get a home cooked meal. Only problem, he was from a very calm, polite, quiet family and ours was/is not. Her story was how she and her buddy had learned about the sex life of the earthworm! Enough said.

She was the daring one, the smart doctor one. Now she can't verbalize her stories. I wonder how much her children really know about her challengs as one of very few women in medical school, or how she was the one to climb the mast when we were sailing with our dad - something I could never do. How much her uniqueness, humor, career her family cannot talk about because they do not know and she never wrote her story down.

What about you? Who knows your unique stories? What ones do you want to share with your special best friends or spouse or kids? Ask them if they have questions about your teen years or college adventures. My kids were appaled to learn I could not wear pants and certainly no jeans, on my college campus in the 1960's.

Create a list of topics YOU want to discuss, share. Ask your family to send you questions. My son did this and I was prepared for what I thought he would ask and had already written some stories of my childhood. None of my ideas were on my children's lists. Instead they asked things I never thought to share like: my best relationship advice based on my experiences, when did I feel brave?, how do you make a house a home?

These are the treasures we can not put a price tag on or physically present on a silver tray.

These are the gifts that become THE BEST PRESENT YOU CAN GIVE.

JUNE 16, 2026