A journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place.
On the other end of the phone was the care manager for the doctor's office. We were talking about how, as children of aging parents who live in a different state, we are frequently ill-equipped to manage and juggle the details that would make our parents more comfortable and safe in their own homes to ensure the promise of independent living as long as possible.
Read MoreI was reminded again last week… by eating an apricot from a tree planted almost 60 years ago in the artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s garden in Abiququ, NM …. that the shared human experience of preparing and eating food in our culture found in community, gathering, and hospitality, is ever present in our lives, at the end of our lives, and even in our grief ritual making.
Read MorePeonies.
Every spring when I see them bloom, I'm drawn back to the night of attending the death of one of my patients when I was a hospice chaplain, and bore witness to the powerful combination of a circle of women and ritual making at the end of life
Read MoreDying can come from a longtime terminal diagnosis, or can come with no warning, or anywhere in the middle. Sometimes we have time to take in the details of someone dying. Sometimes death is sudden with no time to take in anything, except to breathe.
Read MoreWhen I was in seminary, we would frequently be asked to identify ourselves by our “social location.” When it comes to my social location here at Anoint, this is who I am:
Read MoreWe have all been midwifes at birth, whether friends and family are birthing babies in adoption or in a hospital room, or birthing graduations, birthing transitions, birthing new loves. Midwifes at birth bear witness to new beginnings. We need them to cheer us on, affirm us, bless us, listen to us, and sometimes, simply just walk with us.
We also need midwives at death, too.
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