Taylor Rebelez

December 31, 2018 was the day my life changed, forever. Losing a parent is something no child should have to go through, yet sadly we have no control over what happens in our lives. Before my mom passed, she financially took care of all my needs; my senior year as we were looking at colleges and having to pay for the application fees my mom never hesitated to be there for me. My mom was only 38 years old when she passed, she made me realize you are never “too young” to get life insurance to help your family not worry about financial situations after death. During the college applications I had to worry about how much I would have to pay out of pocket to attend to my university since I had nothing, no savings, no income, and no life insurance. If my mom had life insurance, I believe it would have been more of a relief and help to attain my degree. After my mom passed, we lost everything. I had to live with friends and get a job while playing sports and going to school. We lost our house and most of our personal belongings after our house got broken into months later. My mother’s life insurance could have helped us feel less hopeless and possibly the comfort and peace to grieve that anyone would want after the loss of a parent. After I graduated high school, working became the only thing I was doing, I worked long hours to provide for myself, trying to save up for college, and ensure that my family was well taken care of. Life insurance would have helped me pay my college fees off right away, going from having no money to having to pay one thousand dollars to my university is not an easy job, life insurance could have helped take the stress off of that so I could have applied to more scholarships than I did. Life insurance is something that many people do not think of, although deaths occur daily, life insurance can be the most beneficial outlook after someone passes away due to the costs of a funeral and other expenses after death and then financial needs after the funerals and other costs. When I lost my hero, best friend, and mom my life was terrible; but I knew that there was something I could do to help more families like mine in need. My mom passed away due to alcoholism. Alcohol is ranked at the third highest leading cause of death now. It is a very serious issue that does not get much awareness. My degree would be in Bachelor of Science in Counseling with an Emphasis in Addiction, Chemical Dependency, and Substance Abuse. Becoming a counselor, I can help adults seeking recovery and children that live with alcoholic parents or drug addicts and help them seek the guidance that I wish my family could have gotten to prevent my mom’s passing at such a young age.