06/24/2026
Three weeks ago, my son had to lift my right leg into the car so I could leave the hospital.
I couldn’t do it myself.
I’ve spent over 20
years telling clients to prepare for the unexpected. I didn’t see this one coming for myself.
What everyone thought was a back problem turned out to be something entirely different. I ultimately underwent a full right hip replacement at the University of Michigan.
The surprising part? The structural issue had been there since birth. For 61 years, my body compensated—until it couldn’t anymore.
There’s nothing like living through it yourself. I have so much more empathy now for every client, past and present, who has ever sat across from me dealing with something they didn’t choose.
Before surgery, I found myself thinking about the same questions I ask clients all the time—except now they were about me.
How’s your emergency cash?
How’s your health insurance?
Are you contributing to an HSA?
Do you have your estate planning documents in order?
If something goes wrong, are your financial and medical powers of attorney up to date?
Do your loved ones know your wishes?
If you’re a business owner, could things keep running if you were suddenly unavailable for several weeks?
Do you have people you can count on?
Fortunately for me, there was a “yes” next to each one.
A heartfelt thank you to my business partner, Nicholas Kibble, and our office manager, Joel Schmidt, who kept everything running seamlessly while I recovered.
Recovery has reinforced another lesson: progress comes from small actions repeated consistently.
Three walks a day.
Physical therapy.
Showing up again tomorrow.
I’ll go back to advising clients on planning for the unexpected. But I’ll never again talk about it like it’s hypothetical.
It isn’t.
It’s just a matter of when.
