My apologies to readers who have visited my Blog over the last week expecting to find new posts—I have not found the time (or more accurately, the desire) to write as I was dealing with an intense personal loss…that of my Father, plus the added sadness and stress of my mother’s health failing—now that her […]

He told me about: how he met his wife, their courtship and the fun activities they’d shared—the corn roasts and picnics and skating and drive-in movies, his love for her AND his love for each of his family members… and the specific pride he felt for his loved ones. He admitted he’d had a difficult […]

“When I was five, my grandfather passed away. “I called him Grandpa Bunny because of a cute little book my mother had given me. He knew he was going to die, so about a month before he had given the whole family presents. “The day after his small funeral, I wanted to sleep in my […]

Sometimes it’s difficult to talk with an elderly parent about death or ask hose questions that would help your beloved have closure—perhaps it seems the time is never “right” for such heavy thoughts and conversations or you just don’t feel comfortable asking or intruding on what is perceived as a private issue. Maybe your parent […]

As profiled on CNN, for nearly four years (well, since 2006), 25-year-old Eva Markvoort of New Westminster, Canada, narrated a Blog about her battle with cystic fibrosis…an incurable disease that caused mucus to accumulate in her lungs. Even as her health declined when it appeared unlikely that she would receive a second double lung transplant, […]

A physician by the first name of Cynthia (same name as my deceased sister), wrote, “When my father died, although he was beloved, we all experienced a lifting of the burden through which we all had been living. [He had multiple medical illnesses, a fractured hip, and dementia. We were very involved in his extensive […]

One way to find out what is on the mind of your dying beloved is to have the person list what they would do if they had ten years to live; five years; one year; three months; or less. “Are there any unfilled obligations to family members or friends you want to deal with?” “Are […]

While engaged in activities together—looking through catalogues and travel magazines or scrapbooks and photo albums and talking about memories with your terminally ill loved one, or while listening to music together or working on a simple puzzle together or enjoying a coin collection, or painting with watercolors, or baking, (or other activities)—you can feel out […]

As he faced the finality of death, it was natural for him to want to review the life he had lived—to look back and catalog his accomplishments and failures in life…financial, occupational, societal, and interpersonal—to understand the past—a final opportunity for him to resolve and come to understand the conflicts of earlier life. For him […]

Many dying loved ones who come to fully accept they have an untreatable illness, which will cause their death, still find ways to maintain hope. This can take the form of: Hoping to live to see a particular event (like the upcoming birth of a family member), Hoping to be released from the hospital or […]