Take Care of Your Park

Recently, one of my sons and I traveled to Colorado, taking my dog Milo.  I like to stop every couple of hours to allow Milo to get out of the car and run around. 

We stopped in a small community as there was a sign on the highway that said it had a city park.  On arrival, the park had a significant number of very nice equipment that had been installed several years ago. 

At one time I belonged to our local Kiwanis Club.  I knew how much effort we put into raising money to help develop parks and buy equipment.  So, I had a really good idea that someone spent a lot of money and labor establishing this park with nice tables, slides, and other equipment.

Instead of a nice park, we found one that was totally neglected.  There were tall weeds, stickers everywhere, and ant piles. It was overgrown. Even Milo was tiptoeing around the park, careful where he walked.

It was really heartbreaking.  I know that probably a lot of effort went into fundraising and manpower to build this once well-equipped park.  I’m sure at some point the donors were proud of what they accomplished.

Then, no one maintained it and it is now almost unusable. 

I see this with families who put together an estate plan—then do not complete or maintain them.  They ignore changes in the law, their family, or developing health issues.  The estate plan becomes almost useless if not obsolete.

Building and investing in a beautiful park (your estate plan), is just one step.  You need to monitor, mow, repair, clean and update that park (your plan) to maintain its purpose and attractiveness.

If you don’t, your park could become worthless. 

I say this in the context of estate planning, but really a metaphor about life. We want to maintain our homes, businesses and our relationships. We want to take care of and timely address issues affecting our physical and mental health.  They too are valuable and worth the upkeep. 

Even after 46 years of practicing law, I enjoy seeing my team at Clinkscales Elder Law Practice, striving to be better, do better, and to improve and grow. 

I challenge you to maintain and even improve the parks in your life.