Remember being sixteen, getting your driver’s licence and thinking you were all grown-up? Maybe that feeling lasted until you lost your virginity. In fifteen minutes, you had been introduced to the mysteries of adulthood but were left wondering, “Is that all there is? Could there be more to being grown-up?” And yes, there was. Like…
Anyone who has supported someone they love through diagnostic processes or provided care and support at the end-of-life is courageous. And these people appear to be my readers.
My godson (a thoughtful, kind and generous young man) has just shared a TED Talk with me. It’s about palliative care and our need to re-think and re-design our approaches to dying …. the systems as well as the bricks and mortar. We need a design that embodies caring, compassion, dignity, and beneficence…a design that celebrates life…
Remember being sixteen, getting your driver’s licence and thinking you were all grown- up? The card in your wallet brought freedom, as long as the gas tank was full when you returned the car to your parents’ garage. That feeling of being grown-up may have lasted until you lost your virginity. In fifteen minutes…
“Forget about planning your funeral; begin planning your end of life!” That was the first response to my question, “What was your ‘takeaway’ from reading Autumn’s Grace?” as a recent discussion with The Neighbours’ Book Club was winding down. There were nods around the room. The speaker continued, “I have started talking with the people…
One of the lovely experiences of having a novel published is having people share their impressions, and then take the time to tell me their own stories. Both are gratifying because at many times during the writing of the manuscript I would stop and say “Why am I doing this? Does the world really need…
The spring/summer issue of the Bloomberg School of Nursing Alumni magazine, Pulse, is devoted to death and dying. The authors, all nurses, are eloquent and compassionate. Their comments underscore my motivation for having written Autumn’s Grace. Dean Sioban Nelson notes that “until we see death and dying as part of the continuum of care, Canada…
Bonnie Lendrum 