Stuff happens. I'll try not to be all negative, but maybe if I do work for you now you will want someone else to do work for you later. It's only sensible -- nay, responsible -- of you to think about that. I know that and you know that.

So I'm trying to get over this awkardness now. I don't have a low self-esteem, I know that I am not the God Of Computers before which all other possibilities pale, such that should I die you will mourn with two years of a blank page in my memory. Ask me point blank, "what do I do later if you aren't around?", and I'll tell you.

Some things that mitigate the risk:

• Since you'll be able to do much of the maintenance, I won't be likely to become a bottleneck. So if I'm terribly busy and can't help you, hopefully you won't need help.
• I use Open Source software, which means that any other developer can use my programming code and have free unfettered access to all the tools I use. It also means that you aren't in danger of some software company going out of business, because most of this software has no owner per se, and is developed by people much like myself.
• Local backups. You should have copies of everything for your own site (and I'll give them to you). This protects you from many mistakes and disasters, but it also makes it possible for you to get everything that makes up your site.
• Generally, you can achieve a certain level of safety and a clean backup by ripping the site off the web. This isn't just for sites I make, it lets you take a snapshot of any site. The result won't necessarily be as slick as what I made originally, but it will be easy to figure out how to maintain it with a webpage editor like Dreamweaver or FrontPage, and you can put it up on any host.
      One way to do this is in FrontPage you "import a web". Similar functionalities exist in other products, sometimes called "mirroring". Such a mirror is part of your backup, as well.
• Another basic backup: own your own domain. If all else fails, you'll have a name that you can point elsewhere. This also preserves your email address, which can follow you indefinately. That's more than you can say for your phone number or mailing address.
      As something of an aside, if you have a domain name, use an email address @ your domain. Lots of people keep using their ISP address (like joeschmoe@aol.com) after they have their own domain. This leaves you stuck with your ISP. Even if you still check your email at your ISP account, set your Reply-To or From address to your non-ISP mail, and have that account forward to your ISP. It looks more professional, too.