“Death ends a life, not a relationship. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on- in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here.”

“We labor into life and we labor out of life. All of us are born with life and death walking next to us.”

“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.”

“When you’re 50 you start thinking about things you haven’t thought about before. I used to think getting older was about vanity, but actually it’s about losing people you love. Getting wrinkles is trivial.”

“You might think sitting with someone who is dying means you will be having big conversations about the meaning of life,” a hospice chaplain had advised me. “Wrong! Sometimes, all that’s called for is to just show up and watch Jeopardy! together.”

‎”You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.”