Posts Tagged ‘expectations’
Practicing for Death
It’s been 10 days since I arrived in Germany to companion my friend as she receives treatment for metastatic breast cancer. Originally, we were to fly her home to Florida this Sunday — three days from now. As it is, the doctor requested that she stay for another round of hyperthermia and chemo before she…
Read MoreWitnessing
I’m in a place in winter where I ride the tension between what is and what will be. It’s a fine line. My body reacts by getting antsy to be outside free of layers to shelter against the cold, to be not only generating warmth but surrounded by it. As it is, I feel within…
Read MoreBest Laid Plans
Death comes on its own timetable. As an end of life doula, you wouldn’t expect this to surprise me. Yet, it does. Every time. I was reminded of this truth most recently while companioning a woman in her late fifties. For more than three months we had been creating her vigil plan — a list of music she wanted played, poems…
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