My Dad died from Alzheimer’s Disease. It is a long, slow, tough way to die. He was in a skilled care nursing home for the last four years of his life as the disease progressed.

I am getting older now and contemplating my own death at times.

I am organizing a few things around the house and getting my files culled. You might say that in some ways that I am preparing to die.

We all need to do this.

Do it while you have the time and you are still lucid.

I think about my own Dad when I am going through this organization. It was very hard for my Mom to know when to call in help. She was independent.

She was also very proud and like many people in her generation, she did not want to call in the caregivers for help until she just could not handle it anymore. It is a tough call.

I would like to avoid putting my family into that situation and having to make this tough decision if I could.

I know that I am not going to have a lot of choice over some things when or if I get to this stage.

That is why I am trying to get organized now.

I can fill out a living will. I can talk to my wife and children about my wishes when I get older and also talk about my wishes for my own funeral. I can make it easier for them by just opening the conversation.

Sure, everyone would love to live independently in their own home as long as they can and then die peacefully in their sleep one night. Hopefully, that will happen to me when the time comes.

If it doesn’t, I will have given someone the durable power of attorney to make decisions for me and I will bear them no ill will.