Another common question I get is “why are you still going to work at Amazon every day? Shouldn’t you take a leave?”
Well, while in an ideal would I would quit today and spend every minute having fun times with my children there are a few key realities:
No one has given me days/weeks to live at this point, I could be around 3 days or 30 years - if it’s the latter, life has to go on. The kids have school, there’s only so much you can do each day etc…
It’s a great distraction - I took one day off coincidentally after I found out to do some work on our cabin, and most of the day I just had anxiety being alone with my thoughts. Work is a great distraction.
While Amazon is very flexible about letting me take the time I need, in the end health insurance in the USA is critical, and losing this exposes my family to too much financial risk.
Additionally, if I do end up dying, I want to make sure my family is as set as possible - between the pay and the extra life insurance through work, there’s just too much upside to not do this.
Luckily I did coincidentally take a sabbatical this past summer, and it was an amazing experience spending entire weeks with family when my kids were out of school, including a whole week at Boy Scout camp.
Should it become clear I can no longer work or the end is imminent, I do plan to take leave. For now, I’m assuming it won’t be necessary.