Bob doesn’t want his unborn child to grow up not knowing who he is, so he starts making home movies of himself, in which he talks to his son and shows him how to do things like shave and jump start a car.
Bob does live long enough to see his son be born, but soon after, the cancer reaches his brain, his health rapidly declines, and he passes away while his boy is still a baby.
The movie closes with a scene of Bob’s wife and son watching a video of Dad reading Green Eggs and Ham.
My Life is truly one of the saddest films of all time, and is the only movie I’ve ever seen my dad cry at. It’s like Beaches for men. The idea of knowing you’re not going to be around for your children pummels you right in the fatherly feels.
Bob knew he was living on borrowed time, and wanted to pass along his love and knowledge to the son he wouldn’t get to raise himself. It’s a position we hope to God we’ll never find ourselves in.
Yet it’s actually a spot we all do find ourselves in. For we’re all living on borrowed time. None of us know when death might snatch us from the earth.
That’s why in addition to taking out a life insurance policy to ensure your children’s financial future is taken care of, you ought to consider taking out an “emotional insurance policy” that’ll cover some of their inner needs.
An emotional insurance policy is made up of letters, emails, videos, or journal entries in which a father shares his love and wisdom with his children. You can give them these missives on a regular basis or save them up to be read at a future date — and not necessarily just upon your death! They can simply be bundled into a gift given to your son or daughter when they become an adult or reach a certain milestone in their life. An emotional insurance policy acts not only as a back-up should you expire before you get to tell your children everything you wish to say, but also as a chance simply to convey those things you might have trouble verbally expressing — things that might otherwise go unsaid while they grow up.
Email may not be for everyone, but it can be a great choice for some. My brother-in-law saw this Google Chrome ad around the time his son was born, and loved the idea of creating an email address for him, to which to send him notes he’d someday read. (Note that you can’t actually create an email address for a minor, but you can do so by using your birthdate instead of theirs.)
My brother-in-law doesn’t write to the email address quite as much as the video shows — just a few times a year, especially when he’s traveling. He and his wife hope to show their son this treasury of emails and record of his childhood once he reaches his teen years.
In whatever form you do it, creating an emotional insurance policy is a fantastic way to solidify your bond with your kids, and make sure you leave them a legacy of your love.
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