Death, dying, death. Ok I am sounding a little morbid. It’s just that I have two of my closest friends dealing with this right now. One of my friends mother pass away last night and another one of my friend’s mother is getting ready to pass. It just struck me how we talk about death. Passing on, getting ready to go. We have such a need to believe there is something else out there. That death is not an ending to life but a beginning to something else. My friend Barbara is taking care of her dying mother. She said it felt oddly similar to when she was a midwife and was helping with the birth of a child. Only now she was helping with the birth of a spirit.

Death is such an incredible difficult passage for humans to go through. I heard stories that back in the day women would wash and prepared the body for viewing, well truth be told there are probably places in the world where that still happens, and they would be laid out in the house while people came by to say their goodbyes. I remember at my Grandfathers funeral the Knights of Columbus stood watch over his casket until he was placed in the ground. I was told they were there to keep the evil spirits away. Today everything seems to be wrapped up in some kind of pretty little package. Did you know you could be cremated and made into a jewel? I don’t know how I feel about that…

It may be that I am a little freaked out about it. I’m 49 years old and that death and dying thing is going to happen. There is just no way to get around it. The thing is wouldn’t it be nice if there was some kind of passage; where it didn’t have to be such a painful and confusing parting. I know that most people believe in something, be it God, the Universe, the Source and I think that helps get through the hard times.

I am often asked what I should say. What can I do? The truth is that listening is the best gift a person can give. Letting a person grieve and express that grief is also an amazing gift. Understanding that it takes time to grieve, not a week, a month, or a year and that everyone grieves differently, that’s huge.