Living, you are the sun.
Naomi Wingfield, ‘Beyond Death‘
If I skip along with you
will shadows seem less frightening,
will Death be understood?
So, be slow if you must, but let
Mary Oliver, The Gift
the heart still play its true part.
Younger family members are naturally reluctant to ask questions about the end of life. I believe it’s up to the elders (yes, it’s up to us) to open these all important conversations with the younger generation. Life stories and legacy letters can help us do this. Strategies for holding such family conversations can be found on several websites:
The Conversation Project
End in Mind Project
The 40-70 Rule: Guide to Conversation Starters for Boomers and their Senior Loved Ones
Hello Conversation Game
Communicating about the End of Life
Fourteen Writers Share Final Conversations with Loved Ones
How Reading Can Help Us Cope with Death
A Rite of Passage for Late Life
Living Life With the End in Mind
The Ethical Will: Life Is About More Than Your Possessions
Writing & Aging
At 101, This Woman Released her First Poetry Book
Writing Exercise
Reflecting on life and death highlights what matter to us. List 10 phrases of what really matters to you. Choose one associated with a relevant family story. Then incorporate the story within a legacy letter to a family member too young to have experienced this – teaching a lesson and offering a blessing to the letter’s recipient.
Book Notice – Sunita Puri’s 2019 That Good Night: Life and Medicine at the 11th Hour
with this shadow photo,
I bid you adieu,
Ellen