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...

At a recent palliative care conference, I learned that many individuals are unclear about the differences between palliative care and...

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...

A friend of mine died on March 19th, I feel like this is going to be my new normal, and something I am going to have to get used to...

I spent most of my life being afraid to ask for help. I honestly thought that if I did, it meant I was a failure somehow, or inadequate...

This is a question that many people who are navigating an illness hear. It does come from a caring place, and it is not meant to hurt or...

I was with three siblings as they prepared to say goodbye to their mom. One accused her sister of not honoring their mother properly by...

When confronted with grief, people often say “it gets better with time.” Although this statement comes from a place of kindness and...

A common piece of advice I give is: Listen without trying to fix, judge, or share how you would handle the situation... listen to affirm...

One of the things I stress most to the people at the bedside of someone who is dying, is to be mindful of how aware their person is, even...

I was walking down the aisle of a grocery store when I heard a little girl say to her mother, “you know mom, if I don’t eat for three...