No matter how much time you have had to prepare, no matter how long you have known this moment might be coming, when that last breath is...

Life is a gift, a one-time-only, no-do-overs, miraculous blessing. And yet, it is so easy to forget that. We get caught in the grind, the...

Presence doesn’t make a grand entrance. It doesn’t need the spotlight. It doesn’t always come with answers or certainty. But presence stays . It listens. It breathes alongside you in the silence. It says, “I don’t know what to say, but I’m not going anywhere.” The truth is, we don’t remember every word someone said when we were struggling, but we always remember who was there. Who sat beside us. Who made space for our feelings. Who didn’t try to fix us or rush us through it.

In 1987, my mom was told she had a year to live. She had lung cancer that had spread to her brain. I was twenty-three years old, living...

This poem is born from reflection on all the love I’ve seen and the difficult goodbyes we sometimes must face. Our memories often feel...

I’ve never seen hope as a problem. In fact, I welcome it, because hope is often the only thing that helps someone get through the uncertainty of dying. People hope for more time, for less pain, for one more good day. They hope to see someone they love again, to be remembered, to not be afraid. And none of that needs to be extinguished just because the body is declining. It is never my intention to put out that spark of light in someone’s eyes. My role isn’t to correct or conf

One of the most important things we can do for someone who is declining, especially nearing the end of life, is to align our care with...

Someone asked me if I still feel anything when someone dies, or if I have become numb to death after all the years I’ve spent in...

I wish you happiness. Not the kind that shouts, but the quiet kind that wraps around you on ordinary days. The kind that lives in...

When someone dies, the world goes still A quiet space no voice can fill I miss you more than words can show In every place I used to go...

Hope is a candle in the wind’s deep sigh, A flicker that dances yet dares not die. It clings to the dark by a silver thread, A whisper of...

When I hand someone the Medical Aid in Dying medications, I realize the gravity of my role and the outcome. I never take this lightly and...

Many people are unclear about the differences between palliative care and hospice, and some even confuse palliative care with palliative sedation. I wanted to take a moment to try my best to clarify these distinctions, aiming to ease any fear or confusion you might have. Additionally, I hope to illustrate a path that can help you or a loved one recognize that there is a plan in place during such challenging times, offering resources, support, and compassionate care tailored t

For the past few days, I have been in Stockton at the California Health Care Facility as a facilitator for the Humane Prison Hospice...

I am a mother I had a mother My sisters are all mothers Many of my friends are mothers And their kids are mothers Some of us were raised...

Those moments at the bedside just before someone dies The last things you hear are the silence and the cries There is ache that people...

Does grief always need to be wrapped tightly with heartbreak, sadness, and pain? My answer is no. Sometimes we can make peace with the...

One of the lessons I have learned in hospice is that not everyone wants their hand held. Yet so often, our instinct is to reach for the...

When we experience trauma, physical or emotional, our ability to smile can often diminish, regardless of whether it was something that...

When my mom died, I took her blue tape measure that she always wore around her neck when she was sewing. When my dad died, I took a small...