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Grief Lessons
Grief Lessons I picked him up from school the day my dad, his grandpa, died. I needed his company someone to hear me. He was only thirteen. I drove through my tears stopping and starting a flash flood...
View ArticleBook Review: H is for Hawk
Review by David Elkin Essayist and historian Helen MacDonald’s H is for Hawk has been a remarkably a
View ArticleRather than assisted dying, better palliative care needed in Canada
Mary Aird of Regina writes: Further to the April 19 column by Andrew Coyne, I was dismayed at our Supreme Court’s demanding that the government design this legislation. It just doesn’t seem to me that...
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Monday Morning
Being a caregiver for someone you don’t know well is really awkward, especially if they can’t speak due to late stage throat cancer. The hardest thing to realize was that he was a doctor but lived...
View ArticleRe-entry
This afternoon I attended our quarterly PCCE Community advisory board meeting. It is a wonderful group of people doing all sorts of interesting and creative things in the world of palliative care....
View ArticleWays of Honoring the Memory of a Man I Wish I'd Known Better
We sat at the table in his kitchen. It was early morning. Coffee had been brewed, or was brewing. We each had a cup. Actually, I wasn’t there. My wife was there. He was telling her about stewing and...
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Raymond Carver Revisited
Raymond Carver with the love of his last 11 years, Tess Gallagher Shortly after these two met, Carver’s doctor told him that his drinking was certainly going to kill him, and he emphasized sooner...
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Preparing for the "Home-going".
Photo Courtesy of Bing Images In the fall, I watch with fascination as each leaf once green and alive, begins to shed it’s cloak of health to reveal the ebbing away of it’s very life in hues of...
View ArticleEp. 36: Tribute to Maria Dancing Heart Hoaglund
https://lessonsfromdying.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/podcastmariatribute.mp3 This episode is dedicated to the memory of Rev. Maria Dancing Heart Hoaglund, hospice chaplain and spiritual counselor who...
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Memento Mori: the facts of life that we need to talk about
“Over my dead body…” “I’m here for a good time, not a long time…” “Would you jump into my grave as quickly?” You may have heard someone say those words in response to certain scenarios. It’s an...
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Faking a Smile...
Here’s a checklist I found for depression. My thoughts are italicized. Things just seem “off” or “wrong.” CHECK You don’t feel hopeful or happy about anything in your life. CHECK…Well, not everything...
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Spirit of the Crow
A month or so ago, I stumbled across a dead crow lying on the side of the road in front of my sister-in-law’s apartment. It’s wings were sticking up in the air in a rather odd position and it...
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Learning How To Die
I saw this gem at the Camden People’s Theatre last night. Solo performed by Luca Rutherford, it focuses on ‘trying to figure out mortality and accepting our finiteness’. A tall order for 60 minutes,...
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Let Wonder Hold Sway
A Poetry Review by Frances Devlin-Glass Diane Fahey, A House by the River, Puncher and Wattmann, Glebe (NSW), 2016 ISBN: 9781922186874 RRP: Diane Fahey takes the reader on a privileged journey, into...
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To be able to say, "I was here."
While at work the other day, a call came through the main switchboard and, because the caller mentioned something about a donation, it was routed to my office. After all, I’m the fundraising guru. We...
View ArticleThe Truth and Nothing But The Truth
In the mornings, looking over the Ventura sunrise, I began to show up at the grocery store to buy liters of gross white wine.I was thirty years old, I had very little money at that point but I tru…...
View ArticleLetter: Respect living wills when it comes to physician-assisted death
Rod A. McLeod of Regina writes: I support physician-assisted dying, including those folks who have written living wills which give authorization to be assisted into death in the event of a serious...
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What's Your Big Idea About End-of-Life Care?
The Aspen Institute Health Strategy Group wants to hear from us, by June 1. Specifically, in advance of its Spotlight Health session in June, it wants to know: what is our big idea about end-of-life...
View ArticleWaiting
I don’t like to wait. I get restless and can’t do anything productive while waiting for someon
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Every breath you take
At this time of the year Vancouver is verdant, warm and blooming. And well it should be: spring has already been on the go for two months, or sometimes even four. Ten years ago, I was out visiting my...
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