You're right PrairieCat. Unfortunately it took a tragedy (lost everything to fire) and ptsd to get me to realize this, but you don't have to be old for your husband to die or for something to happen suddenly and you're left on your own. That's another one of my fears, and right now I don't know if I could handle things on my own because I know nothing about things such as car insurance - or how to fix a flat tire or anything car related for that matter. It seems that men die before women more often, so there are usually plenty women who end up being widows. I'd never thought about it before, but what did my mom do when my dad had open heart surgery and was off work for awhile?? It must've been hard. It's scary, but things happen. My eyes are SO open to this now. I'm stressing about all this, but it's because I want to be prepared. I don't want to be caught off-guard again. People are telling me to stop worrying because you don't know the future or what will happen. That's true. But to be prepared for it would help.