Airport Pizza

As my father's son, I have an inherent need to take care of my family. This includes after my death. As soon as Wifey and I had D1, I made sure to have life insurance, etc...

As the years went by, and I'd leave Wifey and the Ds for various business trips, I'd be sure to sit with Wifey and give her a detailed explanation of assets, probate papers, etc...

She took to calling it my "airport pizza" talks, since it assumed that a catastrophic plane crash would render me "pizza" in the way a car crash left a victim "road pizza."

When Wifey and I both traveled, leaving the Ds home, I'd write long, macabre emails to Eric, Mike, and Barry, our estate's trustees, telling them what we wanted for the Ds, etc...

I made Wifey spend an inordinate amount of time with the various permutations of guardianships for the girls, and as soon as D1 turned 18, I wrote to our probate lawyer and made her D2's guardian.

I realize this is all my way of whistling past the graveyard, but there's also an element of thinking, in those final moments before death, I can smile, knowing all is taken care of...

I also realize the absurdity of having these concerns when leaving on an airplane, as opposed to the statistically far greater chance of being killed on US 1 on a daily basis. But, something about taking a longer trip, without the control we think we have when we're driving...

And, I'm not as bad as my friend Lili. When she and Jeff flew to NE recently to visit their daughter in college, Lili actually made them take separate planes! She was so repulsed by the thought of her in laws raising her girls, she insisted. She left from Lauderdale, and Jeff from MIA. Of course, Jeff wondered to me at breakfast about the supreme irony of the 2 planes colliding!

So, today we're about to leave, and this trip INCLUDES Eric, so I decided to spare Mike and Barry my usual graveyard whistle. I DID email the Ds, now both adults, and give them a cursory list of instructions, with the teaser that, between our assets (estate tax free this year!), life insurance, and a potential claim against American Airlines, well, watch our Hilton and Kardashian sisters!

I think the Ds would rather have Wifey and me back home instead...

So, my most annoying demon satisfied, Wifey and I are off...

We love the Fall, and can't wait to walk among the fallen leaves in crisp air, with the distant smell of wood smoke beckoning us back to our country inn...

And, prodigious amounts of lobster wait to be eaten in the roadside shacks of Maine, as well as piles of pasta back in Boston...

Here's to no airport pizza, though...