Author Archives: Beth Bates

Beth Bates

The year before you leave, rack up the frequent flier miles trying to find a buyer for your business. If you can unload it, you will be free. You can retire.

Test-drive a Lexus. Inhale the leather scent of luxury.

Rise each morning at 3:00 a.m., and on a yellow legal pad scrawl fragments of notes that reveal your fractured thinking in the weeks preceding your death. Unraveling the mystery of your sudden departure will keep your family occupied when they gather for your funeral, and the notes will provide clues.

Two months and fifteen days before you leave, fly to Denver for your daughter’s wedding. In your hotel room, look her in the eye and assure her that if anything should happen to you, her mother will be f… Continue Reading