And They Say Cats Have 9 Lives!

The information provided in The Kinder Way Podcast is for educational purposes only, and is not intended as a substitute for professional advice from a licensed advisor. The content of each episode is the opinion of the host and interviewees, and does not represent the views of Serenia Life Financial or any of its other subsidiaries or affiliates. Please always consult a licensed insurance advisor for guidance. Serenia Life Financial does not endorse any third-party views referenced in this content.

Episode Transcript

Hello and welcome to today’s episode of The Kinder Way Podcast! Today, I’m going to do something a little different … I’m going to tell you a story that proves that I just might have “nine lives.” Let me know what you think after I’m done.

When I was young, I pretty much thought I was invincible – ahh, don’t we all?! – until I had not one… not two… but AT LEAST 5 brushes with death during a trip to Thailand in my early 20s.
I remember the most terrifying instance quite vividly. My backpacking partner and I were headed over to one of Thailand’s beautiful islands and – since we were young and… er… thrifty – we opted for the cheapest option when it came to making the 4-hour boat ride over.
A couple of hours into the trip, and with no shoreline to be seen, we realized the cheapest option isn’t always better as we watched, in horror, as large waves began making their way over – and into – the front of the boat. To make matters worse, the sky had turned an ominous shade of grey, and rather than assuring us everything would be OK, the attendants started ushering everyone away from the bow, where the water level was become higher by the second.

As the water kept gushing in, our fellow passengers started to panic – some of them started to cry, others began to pray, and I even saw some throwing up. The rest of us huddled together, hoping for the storm to pass.
Both my friend and I felt that there was a pretty big likelihood that the boat might sink… in the middle of the choppy sea… with – did I mention? – not enough life jackets. All we had on us were our backpacks filled with the basic necessities we had brought from home and some little Thai treasures we had planned to bring back as souvenirs. It suddenly felt very likely that we’d lose our very few belongings if we went over – but our possessions suddenly didn’t feel all that important.

So, we foolishly began to sing “Imagine” by John Lennon – you know, the famous line “Imagine no possessions… it’s easy if you try…. “ which, was a lot better than crying and throwing up – and admittedly, it calmed us down.

You can probably guess how this story ends: We survived! Because, lucky for us, the sky eventually cleared and we made it shore in one piece. Shaken up, but alive!

When I look back on that trip and all those near (death) misses, I can’t help but think what could have happened if we hadn’t been so lucky on the boat that day…
or the time with the poisonous snakes…
or the other time when a taxi driver took us on a very long and unexpected detour…
or the other time when we actually forgot to bring water on a long and sweaty hike…
(and yes, we eventually did stop strangers to ask if we could have a sip of their water. Desperate times for this germaphobe!)

If our 9 lives hadn’t kicked in during that trip, our parents would not only have been mourning their daughters, but they would have had some pretty expensive bills to pay.

Repatriation, for example. In case you’re not familiar with that term, it simply means to fly a body to their home country after their death, and according to my Googling, it can cost as much as fifteen or twenty thousand dollars!
And, of course, there would have been other expenses based on what types of funeral-type services had been provided while we were outside of our home country – that our parents would have been expected to cover. Because, of course, neither of us had travel insurance or life insurance!

Correction: I had a very small amount of life insurance that my parents had got for me when I was a baby, but it would have probably only covered MAYBE a third of the costs, if that.

So while there are lots of teens and twenty-somethings out there who, like 23-year-old me, think they’re immune to death (must be something about those not fully developed pre-frontal cortexes), we parents know better.

And while no parent (including me) buys life insurance for their child because they think they’re going to die – if you listened to previous episodes of this podcast, you’ll know it’s all about the investment component – we also can’t bury our heads in the sand and pretend that our kids are untouchable.
I mean, I can’t be the only one that can think back to their younger years and relive all those risky life choices we made, and wonder: How did I make it out alive?! It’s not just me… right?!

Because in addition to our Thailand trials and tribulations, there was also those times (yes, plural) that I ate blowfish – you know, the fish that’s filled with deadly poison – in Osaka, Japan. Or the time my airplane did a belly-flop landing in Seoul, Korea. Or that time in Havana, Cuba where a “good Samaritan” hopped into the car my friend and I had rented, and brought us the long way to our destination (read: driving 30+ minutes out of your way, through the middle of nowhere, with a strange man, while watching your life flash before your eyes), after which he refused to get out of the car until we had paid him all of our cash for “helping” us.

Wow, I got myself into some pretty terrifying situations when I was young! If you can relate, share your story in the comments – I’d really love to know that I wasn’t the only one!!
Anyway, now that I’m all grown up, I am most definitely sold on the financial protection that comes with a life insurance policy. The thing is, we all know that if someone we love dies, that the payout isn’t going to cure our broken heart, stop us from missing them, or help us heal more quickly. What it WILL do is give us the financial freedom to take the time we need to grieve, and to not layer financial stress on top of the already very real stress of losing a loved one.
And, I might add, as a grown-up with a small child that depends on me, you might say I’m more aware now than ever of my own mortality. It’s like now I can’t STOP thinking about all the different, ridiculous, ways I could die – you know, like slipping on a rogue LEGO in the hallway, getting flattened by a runaway shopping cart in the Costco parking lot, or being crushed under the mountain of laundry I’ve been ignoring. Honestly, at this point, my kid’s toys are more of a health hazard than anything else.
But all jokes aside, I’ve had moments where thinking about the possibility of my own death doesn’t make me sad for me—it makes me sad for that little guy I want to see grow into a happy, healthy, well-loved young man. And of course, my mind goes to all the little things: Who would sing him his favorite lullabies at bedtime? Who’s going to make sure he eats his veggies before dessert? Who would be there to help heal his first broken heart?
There are so many unknowns I can’t control… but at least I know we’ve got the financial side covered. My husband and I both have Term 20 life insurance, which means we’re protected for a 20-year stretch—basically while our son is still mostly dependent on us—and then it expires. And as you may remember from previous episodes, we also got our son a 20-pay whole life policy, which comes with an investment component he can dip into later in life, if and when he needs some extra cash.

Okay, I’m ready to move on from talking about my hypothetical death…. You? In fact, I think it might be that time in the episode where I sprinkle in a little bit of kindness. And since the title of this episode mentions cats, I’m going to share a time when one of my cats did a good deed. (And no, I’m not kidding.)

See, I have two cats and the older one doesn’t like the younger one very much. That said, she’ll begrudgingly wash the little one’s ears now and then, or refrain from hissing when I know she really, really wants to. Anyway, this one time she was sitting by the screen door that separates our dining room from our back deck for what felt like a REALLY long time. So long, in fact, that I kept looking over at her to see what was going on. I noticed she was staring in at me and then would look away towards the shed and back at me again. She was acting super weird – even for a cat – and I started thinking something was really wrong. So I opened the sliding door and could almost immediately hear some very loud, persistent meowing coming from the direction of the shed.
Thanks to my grumpy older cat, we realized the little one had gotten herself stuck in the roof of the shed – my hubby had to grab his ladder to save her, and our older cat sauntered off, like “my work here is done.” I was honestly amazed that she was worried enough about her little sister to sit by the door until I took notice and did something about it. It was super sweet, and it made me realize, underneath it all, she loves that little cat.

Do you have a moment of kindness to share with me? Drop it in the comments – I’d love to hear about it!

Have a question or a topic you’d like to see covered in a future episode? Email me at podcast@serenialife.ca

Thanks for listening, and see you next time!

[This episode was written and hosted by Kathleen O’Hagan. Video and audio edits by Teresa Moscardo . And sponsored by Serenia Life Financial – The kinder way to do life insurance.]