I encountered a strange phenomenon this week. I agreed to spend a very large amount of money, and I was HAPPY about it.
A short while ago, my father blacked out while helping my older brother in his yard. My sister and my mom were both with him and rushed him to the hospital. Afterward, my mother admitted lesser versions of the same thing had happened a good five times in the two months prior, whenever he was doing anything that included movement of any kind -- even just going out to get the mail. Turns out he has a wicked pulmonary embolism situation.
They kept him in the hospital for three days, recommended he get a pacemaker and a few other things that were related to his declining health in general. After some discussions with my mom, where she was panicking about hospital bills and whatever else, I reassured her that she needed to focus on other things, and that I'd take care of the money part of everything.
I went home and told my partner that worst case, we may have to cover around $100k of health expenses for my parents over the not too distant future. She asked how it would impact the FI plan, and I told her we're still on track for 2024 with or without this because our plan has a lot of built-in cushion -- specifically for things like this.
Since agreeing to do so, I've been feeling immense pride in myself. Not in a braggy way, but just in a "I'm really proud of myself for wanting to do such a thing without so much as a second thought." And the immediate emotion after that one is just how fortunate we are to be in a position that allows us to be able to make such a decision without said second thought.
So in the spirit of that feeling, I'm very thankful for the economic flexibility that allows us to make the decisions we would make if economics didn't factor into them. It makes me feel so much more human to be able to just jump in and help people I love without first having to think about or discuss how it's going to impact me or what big things I'll have to give up. What a huge benefit of living the Mustachian way.
I'm thankful you for the discipline to live within my means. I'm thankful for all the good fortune that led to that discipline manifesting itself in a stash that at least helps to enable greater flexibility of options -- the freedom to make the decisions I want to make with fewer psychological constraints. I'm thankful for all the positive influences in my life -- that includes you fine people, who bring a lot of positivity into my life in a world that can otherwise be pretty heavy.
Happy Thanksgiving, friends!
