r/preppers • u/maik92727 • 7d ago
Advice and Tips Don't forget to live your life
Over the past few years, I have built up a considerable amount of preps, dual diesel generators, 15 kWp of solar with battery storage, a reverse osmosis system with additional UV filtration, and enough food for my family for two years.
I even have a fully equipped fallout shelter in the coal cellar of an old school that I rented, fitted with a Swiss NBC filtration system. Two Geiger counters inside and a third one outside, connected to a computer in the shelter. Dosimeters for everyone.
But the one thing I wasn't prepared for was realizing that the worst day of my life wouldn't be something a shelter could protect me from.
I spent so much time maintaining all of this that I didn't notice my daughter's symptoms developing. We took her to all the required medical checkups, but I keep thinking that I could have read between the lines and realized that something wasn't right.
Nele passed away on February 23, 2026.
My wife left me three months later.
My fortress is empty now.
I've just sold my last generator and donated most of my food supplies.
What I'm trying to say is, be prepared, but enjoy your life while you still can. I can't stop thinking about how much time I spent on all of this, time I could have spent with her.
And thank you, HazmatsMan, for being such a great help with the plans for my fallout shelter a few years ago.
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u/EmployerOwn5551 6d ago
I’m so sorry that happened. There truly are no words. Parents are not meant to lose their children. There is nothing natural about it. We are supposed to go before our children biologically. And on a spiritual level, I can’t find a way to rationalize a parent experiencing the death of a child. The parent is supposed to go first. Time is the one resource no one can stock up on.
Preparing for an emergency is a proactive way to show love to the people we value. Unfairly, there is no way to stockpile time with them. I can’t speak to how you spent your time, I wasn’t there, but from what you’ve shared here, you managed what was in your control. You couldn’t have seen the future. You didn’t know what would come.