Death & dying

On death and dying

April 29, 2011

Would it be in bad taste to talk about death in bullet points? Should I cut to the heart of the matter? I’ve been a little choked up in my thoughts and emotions. Hang in there with my gallows humor. Colonel Mustard in the Dining Room with a Candlestick. Now I’ll get serious. Deadly serious. [...]

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Sliced

April 22, 2011

We didn’t know it, that first day of Tessa’s swim team practice in the spring of 2010, but our lives were about to be sliced in two. Before: we were consumed with the end of the school year. There were report cards, field days, deciding on next year’s school, assemblies. We’d had a wind storm [...]

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Perfect Moment Monday: Joy in small things

January 2, 2011

It was a bittersweet holiday. We spent it with my in-laws in New England, which is the sweet part. The bitter part I wrote about last summer, when my mother-in-law was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer (she’s a non-smoker). Our visit coincided with the making of The Big Decision. About as big a decision [...]

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Perfect Moment Monday: Second wind

September 19, 2010

Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between. Once a week we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Details on how to participate are at the bottom of this [...]

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Answer me this #19

June 26, 2010

What, do you think, makes for a good death?

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“Let’s see what you’re made of.”

April 6, 2010

The exhibit starts in a bright red antechamber. In the background is a faint throbbing noise, an incessant heartbeat. I see two dozen large red barrels bathed in red light, which represent the amount of blood my heart is going to pump today — 1800 gallons at a pace of about 3 ounces per beat. [...]

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