Last June, I wrote about a "death panel" that my parents convened to discuss their wishes for end of life treatment. It was a pretty emotional couple of hours with all seven of their children. After it was over, we felt a sense of relief. We knew what to do but, with my parents in good health, we weren't going to have do anything for some time.
Except 2 weeks ago my father had a stroke that left his left side weakened. His speech was unaffected. He seemed to be recovering but word comes just moments ago that he's suffered probably another small stroke. He's being evaluated at this moment.
I'm hoping, of course, that he's going to get through this. That he'll stablize. That he'll recover from whatever has happened. But I also have some comfort in knowing exactly what his wishes are should things take a much worse turn.