This Essay won an award for teaching people about death and dying from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. Teri was 44 and I was 38 during her hospice care. I saw Terri every Thursday for about a year. Upon arriving to her house her bed was in the living room. It was a little house, and when I arrived Terri was quiet and seemed like she just needed a girlfriend. She was checking me out, [...]
Our hearts continue beating no matter the sadness and visceral pain we experience when a love one dies. What else can our breathing do? Let me invite you to the space of the breath and only the breath. I know what you’re thinking, people say to you just breathe, take a deep breath and in the depths of grief even this sounds like it is no help at all. Yet, if we break it down and think [...]
Yes. It really is that simple. I am an animal lover and I have been around many grieving animals. I know you have seen the pictures of dogs laying by their masters grave. Just the other day while playing golf, I witnessed a baby bird that was laying in the grass and not doing well. The mama and a bunch of other birds were all trying to protect the baby bird that was near death. The most [...]
Written for opentohope.com I pick Acceptance. It makes me cringe if I am in a conversation with someone who is grieving or missing a loved one in any way shape or form and I hear the words, it’s time to let go or you need to let go. I am sure their intentions come from a loving place. There is a time to let go of some things in our lives and grief is not one of [...]
Written for opentohope.com I am so sorry for your loss. There is one feeling that I don’t see discussed much and that is the loneliness that comes with grief. There is a feeling in the heart that makes us feel like we are walking in this world totally alone. It doesn’t matter who we are with. Whether it is a concert, an intimate party with friends, sports events or even the simplest of things like grocery shopping, [...]
Written for opentohope.com Recently, I have received phone calls from dear friends who have lost people they love. Lost. That word, it is so final, but do we really know? Still, there is that empty space of where are they? What’s it like? Are they happy and safe? It is so difficult to wrap our human brain around death. I believe that we do get signs. After 20-plus years working in hospice, helping the living and the [...]
Senseki: At last I am leaving: in rainless skies, a cool moon... pure is my heart It is Thursday, my day to visit a 92-year-old man as his hospice volunteer. My visit is a labor of love that I have treasured for the past 15 years. To me, there is no greater service than to visit him, love him, and keep him company in his last days. I pull up to the assisted living facility and I [...]
There are people who enter our lives and impact us in a profound way, and recently there was a beautiful young man with light green eyes, and a brilliant smile, who entered my life for only a short time but made such an impact on me. He came into my life through a class I was teaching about death and dying at a local high school. It was one of the basic classes about what to say [...]
Holiday blues got you down? You are not alone this season By Stephanie D. Schulte An interview with Nina Impala Although the holiday season is filled with good cheer, decked out halls and festive times, for many people it heralds waves of sadness and grief into their lives. For some, the memory of a loved one who has passed away can spark painful feelings. For others, a divorce or job loss can lead to holiday sadness. [...]
The news has just come in—news you did not want to be true. But it is true, and you and your family are about to enter the Death Zone. If this is starting to sound like a scary movie it isn’t, and by the time you finish reading this I hope you will lose any fear you may have of the death zone. The fact is, we all will die. This is not a secret. But we [...]