For the last few months, I have been writing about developments in Australian Insurance law whether they be regulatory or judicial in nature. While this has been a lot of fun, sometimes perspective is needed.
I am a great believer in the fact that for insured confronting a claim, their only perspective is their insurance policy and its prompt and complete response.
I get it.
But even so other things come your way from time-to-time which demand that you put your insurance law texts away and yield completely to them because they are the source of real perspective.
My mother passed away last month.
Her death was sudden and brutally painful to watch and left memories which I will never forget. It involved not only embracing its significance to me, it involved embracing its significance to my wife, my children and my wider family.
In the middle of this deep grief, it involved ensuring that her life was celebrated as it deserved, engaging churches, organising flowers and writing eulogies. It involved finding a way to visit her apartment when she is no longer standing there to greet me or listening to her voicemail message when no response can bring her back.
And since she passed away, there have been so many signs that she is still present. The gentle touch on the shoulder or a stranger’s mention of her birthday must be more than coincidence. At least I believe they are.
There is the funeral. Holding it all together for yourself, your family and all of those who attend to pay tribute.
Finally, there are those moments when the loss simply overwhelms you like never ending waves.
I am not, by any means, the only one to travel down this path even though its loneliness is striking. And the journey no doubt means different things to different people. But what I can say is that it brings perspective like nothing else and, this time, needed to be written about before any insurance principle.
Perspective.