At 63 years of age, I have entered into a phase of life punctuated by ongoing death and loss. Still, I slip comfortably into the pattern of pretending that death will not happen to me or to the people I love. This is a story about how my mother died on her own terms and …
Category Archives: Loss and Grief
Sunflowers and the First Tile of Grieving
My last story was about my friend, Heather, and her mushroom mosaic. I was so inspired by her creativity and the end product that I decided to make a mosaic of my own. I have never done mosaic before. I don’t consider myself very artsy or creative, although Terry said I was creative in grant …
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Mosaic – Getting Through the Grief
If you have read my blogs you know that I use metaphors to understand and process my grief, like the waves metaphor of grief that can come without warning to knock you off of solid footing and send you adrift. Metaphors give words and images for me to use to communicate my experiences to others. May …
Caregiving Friends
Just when you think your caregiving role is over, it’s not. I just got off of the phone with a dear friend who told me that his father died last night. His father was frail and had significant health problems over the past few years. While his health and functioning were declining, his death was …
End of Life Before the End of Life
When does the end of life begin? I certainly am not the first one to ask this question, but it is a tough one for caregivers. Shifting to palliative care is fraught with anxiety, uncertainty and fear. The past few months of life has been challenging for my 94-year-old mother and myself. You see, first, …
Telling Your Mobility Story
Questions to Ponder as a Caregiver or a Concerned Loved One. How important is it that healthcare workers (nurses, therapists, technicians, physicians, others) change their behaviors to sustain, achieve, and restore our loved ones’ abilities to walk and to be mobile in their environments? Let me ask you to pause a moment. Think of a time …
First Blog – Waves of Grief
Hello and Welcome to my First Blog! Introduction. I have been reading about how to start a blog and I think I failed in Rule #1. One author said that the first thing you need to do is to find your niche. My problem all of my life is that I have been a generalist; I have …
My First Blog
Hello and welcome to whomever is reading this! Introduction. I have been reading about how to start a blog and I think I failed in Rule #1. One author said that the first thing you need to do is to find your niche. My problem all of my life is that I have been a generalist; I …