Passion Power

No One Has to Die Alone gets death and dying out of the closet and on to the Dining Room Table. I read Dr. Lani Leary’s book in 2012 when my Aunt Judy was diagnosed with a terminal illness. It’s is one of those books you read and know you are forever changed. This book will empower you to support a loved one at the end of their life. Shortly after my Aunt was diagnosed I really wanted to call her but I really didn’t know how to handle such a delicate conversation. What do I say? What don’t I say? Should I be positive or realistic. Will she want visitors? What do I write on the card and what do I say to my cousin? This was unfamiliar territory I was so vulnerable. I kept asking myself what would I want? I wonder if you will KNOW how to handle this situation if the time comes. Maybe you already have. Dr. Leary has worked for over 30 years as a psychotherapist. She's a Chaplain in the intensive care unit of a hospital, a counselor in 8 hospices across the US and is a ...

It’s a great way to control what they say about you.  While you decide for yourself whether it’s an outlandish, morbid or self absorbed idea, here's mine.  Mom’s going to miss rainstorms and the smell of warm scented wax.  She’ll miss fighting with my dad whether to open the windows or turn on the air conditioner. One day she drove us to school and realized we weren’t in the car.   Mom loved herself and never apologized for it.  She had so many passions and interests it was hard for her to pick so she didn’t.  She just did them all.  When driving us around she would point at trees, flowering bushes or a beautiful orange sky and would practically run us off the road. We use to yell at her. I kind of regret that little now. When we were 2 and 3 years old she took us to McDonalds.  Amy got stuck in the tube slide at the very top the same time Kay bolted across the busy restaurant in her red rain boots heading for the toilet and disappe...