27/02/2019
I WANTED TO PUT OFF GETTING LIFE INSURANCE—BUT MY HUSBAND DIDN'T
When I married James* in 1978, I was 21 years old. I never could have imagined then that I’d be a widow by 26, or that I’d have a 9-month-old baby to take care of on my own.
As soon as we became pregnant, James started talking about life insurance—but I was hesitant. I was 24, but James was already thinking like an adult. It’s not that I wasn’t an adult; the topic of life insurance was just scary. I was pregnant with our yet-to-be-born child, and the last thing I wanted to think about was one of us dying.
James passed away on a Tuesday in March. The weekend before, we’d had an especially good time together. That Monday evening, my neighbor came over to watch a show. James sat with us but left early and was already asleep when I joined him later.
The next morning, he left for work without me seeing him. Whether he kissed me goodbye while I slept, I’ll never know. I had a hair appointment with the woman across the street. I was sitting in a chair in her basement when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I turned to see my brother, Paul, who, like James, was a construction worker. He looked at me and said, “Cathy, we have to go.”
I remember him pulling me out of the chair, and driving to the hospital. My first words were, “How bad?”
He just squeezed my hand.
When we arrived at the ER, the other construction workers were there. It was hard for them to look at me—and that’s when I knew.
My story is a reminder that once you have a family—no matter your age—life insurance is absolutely essential.
I didn’t want to think about that at the time, but lucky for me, my husband had.
