The world watched as Kate Middleton wed Prince William on Friday. While the pageantry was magnificent, all I could think of was Princess Diana. How tragic not to be present at such a transcendent moment in your child's life. Will was 15-years-old when his "mum"…
At lunch Thursday with one of my favorite people, Dr. Elizabeth Welty, who was a doctor in Spokane when women doctors were quite rare here, told me the "secret" to an active life at 96. "Keep moving. Plan tomorrow." And, I noted, she drank real…
Religion Link, a news story idea service from Religion Newswriters, often sends interesting emails on many topics. Today's caught my attention. The writers noted that end-of-the-world worries, fears (and for some, hopes) are astir. The weird weather might be part of it! They have a…
The June Psychology Today includes a conversation with a man deemed "the terminator," Simon Critchley, who co-runs the International Necronautical Society, "an avant-garde network seeking to make death as popular as sex." In other words, get the national dialogue about death and grief more into…
It was 1974. My heart had been broken for the first time at age 19, and I sometimes babysat my niece, Nichole, and I'd put on Phoebe Snow's new self-titled album with its sad and haunting single "Poetry Man" and pace the living room of…
Whatever faith tradition, or whatever anyone does or does not believe, the Easter metaphor of life, suffering, death followed by rebirth, is found everywhere. In nature, for sure, as winter's bareness covers all the life in sleeping beneath frozen ground. In our life stories, for…
Gethsemane The grass never sleeps. Or the roses. Nor does the lily have a secret eye that shuts until morning. Jesus said, wait with me. But the disciples slept. The cricket has such splendid fringe on its feet, and it sings, have you noticed, with…
Today, Holy Thursday, we observe the Last Supper, the meal Jesus shared with his friends. He broke the bread and shared it. Scripture reminds us that we will "find Him in the breaking of the bread." My most profound experience of the risen Christ in…
To hell - or not? The spiritual anxiety that Rebecca discusses is often present for a person who is dying. The question is an object lesson for all people to think about our world view now and how we understand God, forgiveness among ourselves and…
At the Hospice Foundation of America's annual bereavement teleconference last week, the national panel discussed "spiritual distress" as people lay dying. People who are verbal sometimes say they don't want to die because they don't know what will happen. Some worry they are going to…
My mom is 90 years old and she has a handful of 90-something friends left, most of them women. They all are still pretty sharp, opinionated and open to rather personal questions. Yesterday, my mom and I visited Pauline Cafaro (shown here on the left),…
The world's oldest man died last week. At 114-years-old, Walter Breuning left this world, but offers a legacy of wisdom: embrace change - "all change is good," eat only two meals each day because "that's all you need," Breuning claimed. He told people to "work…
At the Hospice Foundation of America's teleconference Wednesday, one of the national panelists told the story of a man dying of cancer who had long ago drifted from his Catholic roots. He still had several months to live and wanted to explore some questions of…
Nancy MacKerrow has now planted 120 trees throughout the world (but most of them in Spokane) in honor of her daughter, Susie, killed when hit by a bus in St. Louis in 2002. On the Susie Forest website, MacKerrow explains the project. She sometimes finds…
I spent much of today at the Hospice Foundation of America's annual bereavement teleconference. The theme: "Living with grief: spirituality and end-of-life care." It was a great conference and I'll be blogging about it all week. The conference, shown nationally today to groups gathered throughout…
I took our dog to the dog wash today, a place where master and canine get soaking wet. My 95-pound German Shepherd, Bella, protested wildly through the whole watery struggle. She is 8-years-old and was abandoned in the woods. We met her at the animal…
Each summer, Hospice of Spokane sponsors a camp for young people grieving the loss of loved ones. Camp Chmepa will be held this summer July 29-31 at the heavenly Camp Lutherhaven on Lake Coeur d’Alene. The camp is for young people between the ages of…
Every year the Hospice Foundation of America does an annual teleconference. Hospice of Spokane and Hospice of North Idaho telecast the half-day conference and follow it with panel discussions made up of local experts. Here's a description of this year's program, which takes place Wednesday…
Obituaries, once written for newspapers by obit writers and placed in the news sections, are now done by family and friends and placed as paid classified ads. As in any writing, the best obits contain specific details. A former work colleague, now at WSU, sent…
My fourth-grade teacher, a nun, taught us to "say a little prayer whenever you hear a siren." And so…I have said a little prayer for years whenever I hear a siren. I repeat Sister's prayer and add my own addendum: "Please, God, help the people…
My young friend, Laura, tells me of her burden of grief in the after years of her mom's death. Working through the pain, Laura was encouraged to write a message to her mom - on a balloon. She did - and released it into the…
The recent mishap on the Southwest Airlines flight in which a mid-flight fuselage hole depressurized the cabin in scary ways reminded me of a story a USA Today colleague told decades ago. He was having girlfriend troubles and I think they'd even fought before he…
From the obituary in today's Spokesman-Review for Liliana Stewart, 1927-2011, described as a woman of Jewish-Italian heritage and a Holocaust survivor: Entering her home you often found her singing and cooking, sauces simmering on the stove, bread being pulled from the oven and warm butter…
The spring wind blows wildly today sending seeds and dreams in all directions. The yard angels - not their real business name - came to estimate what spring cleaning needs to be done among the dead branches and winter debris. "You must cut away at…
There's an old saying that Italian men go to church only three times in their lives -- hatch, match, dispatch. Hatch-Baptism. Match-marriage. Dispatch-funeral. The same could be true about how many times most people will appear in the newspapers. Hatch-birth announcement. Match-wedding announcement. Dispatch-obituary. In…
Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.
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