Things Happen

Best to be prepared

My brother died last month. I’m in Stockholm now taking care of things. We had the funeral on Tuesday. Most of the family made it over, and many of his friends.

I’m not really going to go into the details, but there are a couple of things that I think are worth mentioning:

1. It’s been a rough few weeks, but they would have been much worse if we hadn’t been able to fly over here, pay for hotels for people, and pay for the funeral, etc.

Make sure you have an emergency fund. It will allow you to deal with emergencies without having to worry about money too.

2. Take care of your loved ones. Make sure you keep in touch with people and go and see them when you can.

You never know if you’ll get the chance to see them again.

*. A memorial website can be a beautiful thing. I made a simple one for my brother, and it’s been a way to remember him and allow friends and family to share photos and memories.

Back to Japan (and our regular program) next week.
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25 Responses

  1. How awful. My condolences to you and your family. Glad you were able to travel to Sweden, but sorry it was in such circumstances.

  3. Very sorry to hear of your loss; please accept my condolences. My wife and I lost my sister-in-law to a rare form of lung cancer just two months ago and we were reminded of the same lessons. Good of you to be making arrangements on his behalf.

  4. So sorry to hear this. And totally agree about the usefulness of an emergency fund, I learnt this myself a few years ago when something similar happened. Please take care of yourself.

  6. I’m very sorry for your loss, Ben. He looked like a nice fun guy.
    I suddenly lost my sister in October three years ago, so to some extent I know what you’re going through. You might feel strange and disconnected for quite some time.
    Please take it easy and look after yourself.
    Best wishes,
    Ian.

  15. Ben, I am so very sorry to hear about the death of your brother. Please accept my deepest sympathy on your loss.

  18. Sorry for your loss Ben – deeply sad to read. Regular reader over here in London, but rarely comment. Wanted to give my condolences and thanks for the important advice too. Take care of yourself, all the best Ben – to you and your family.