(Editor’s note: The pet owners have asked to be identified by first name only.) At the pet loss support groups I conduct at the VCA Southpaws Veterinary Center in Fairfax, Va., I often hear from attendees that they encounter sentiments like this as the… Continue reading
After surviving a heart attack and a cancer diagnosis, Carol Riddell feared being kept alive by machines more than she feared death itself. The retired teacher had made her end-of-life wishes clear to her wife Debbie Joffe: no extraordinary measures. T… Continue reading
(This article appeared previously in Kaiser Health News.) When she worked on the trading floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, long before cellphone calculators, Susan Saran could perform complex math problems in her head. Years later, as one of… Continue reading
Maybe, just maybe, America’s greatest taboo — talking openly about death — is itself dying a slow death. Too slow, if you ask Diane Rehm, author of the new nonfiction book, When My Time Comes. “Until we overcome our fear about talking about death,” the… Continue reading
My friend Carla saw almost everything in life as a creative challenge — a moment to brainstorm and make a statement. If there was a potluck brunch, no way was she picking up a dozen bagels. Instead, she’d find a recipe for pear-ginger coffee cake, go b… Continue reading
As someone who has been writing and editing personal-finance stories for over four decades, I have a few idols in my field. At the top of the list is Jane Bryant Quinn. So, I was delighted to have the chance to ring her up in Rome, where Quinn and her … Continue reading
As someone who has been writing and editing personal-finance stories for over four decades, I have a few idols in my field. At the top of the list is Jane Bryant Quinn. So, I was delighted to have the chance to ring her up in Rome, where Quinn and her … Continue reading
Writers have strived to survey the landscape of old age since Shakespeare wrote King Lear. But the Bard’s iconic image of the dying and raging patriarch is hardly a contemporary portrait. Today, when writers, like all of us, are living and working into… Continue reading
“Thank you for the intervention. Friends and family came to be with me. I agreed to be admitted to hospital. Am waiting for a bed. I had a horrible breakdown. I am sorry for worrying you.” This was my message posted on Facebook to friends on October 19… Continue reading
At 74, my father found out he had stage 3 lung cancer. The prognosis was grim. That was six years ago. Last month, Dad celebrated his 80th birthday. Even though his disease is terminal, our lives have gone on and we’ve learned a lot along the way throu… Continue reading