Two years ago I had the fright of my life. 

While visiting my older sister in Florida, I went to wake her up for an early doctor's appointment. She was totally incoherent and seemed paralyzed so I called 911. When the paramedics arrived, their first question was "Does she have an advance directive?"

Sadly, I did not know.  Don’t let this happen to your loved ones!

It is not at all difficult to create one, I urge you to do it today!

AARP has a resource to create a directive specific to the state that you live in.  

I used the FREE service My Directives. It only takes 20 minutes to fill in the Advanced Care Directive online. I found it very easy complete and will probably go back to fill in more information as I ponder the important questions it asks.

It feels great to know I made these decisions while I am calm and healthy.  This way my family will know that these are my true directives and not decisions made under distress.

Once you’ve done yours, please make sure that a few people you trust know where to find a paper copy or source it online if needed.

As a friend said, taking care of this directive (as well as wills, trusts, and powers of attorney) is like writing a "love letter to your family."

Will YOU fill in your Advance Directive? Have you already? And importantly, does someone know where to find it in an emergency?

Thankfully, my sister recovered but one of the first things we did was make sure that she had an up-to-date directive and that we know exactly where it is if it was ever needed.