Recently, Marnie and I offered a reading and book signing at Eight Cousin’s Bookstore in Falmouth, Massachusetts. We had a small gathering of about l0 people, including a minister, who bought several books.

The conversation following the reading was profound — open and tender. One woman’s son was in the first plane to hit the World Trade Towers.  Another man sobbed at various points talking about the estrangements/cut offs in his family.  Another said she wish this book had been part of her mother’s hospice experience. While the medical care hospice provided was wonderful, she missed support that would have helped her mother close her life more peacefully.

Talking about death and dying is challenging, maybe especially on a lovely evening at the beginning of summer, but bringing difficult topics out of the shadows is comforting, too. It is our hope that these important conversations — about how we live meaningfully and die as we wish — will become commonplace and flourish.