Reblogged from September 16, 2012 I attended the book signing this past August. Farther Along, written by my friend and mentor, Carol Henderson, which tells the stories of thirteen mothers (she is one of them), a bakers dozen as Carol points out, who had lost children at various ages. I was prepared to cry. I…… Continue reading Why Do We Write?
Tag: dying
Marv Roelofs and Apple Sauce
Making applesauce sort of represents living life to the fullest. I think prayer is sometimes about asking God to let us do what we can and enjoy ourselves. Picking apples and making applesauce has made me do that. —Marv Roelofs I called Marv soon after he received the diagnosis of Stage IV Small Cell…… Continue reading Marv Roelofs and Apple Sauce
Leaving Our Legacy
I have been thinking for a long time about the fact that we older nurses are dying off. We will take with us our memories of nursing history. I have always loved to hear from other seasoned nurses about how they size up their nursing careers as they look back. What was important at the…… Continue reading Leaving Our Legacy
WHY DO WE WRITE?
Originally posted on Nursing Stories & Other Tales:
I attended the book signing this past August. Farther Along, written by my friend and mentor, Carol Henderson, which told the stories of thirteen mothers (she is one of them), a bakers dozen as Carol points out, who had lost children at various ages. I was prepared…
A Hospice Nurse is Featured in The New Yorker
Larissa MacFarquhar is a staff writer for the New Yorker. She has written profiles on “do-gooders,” people whose altruistic acts “spring from genuine empathy.” Her subjects are varied: Quentin Tarantino, Diane von Furstenberg and Paul Krugman. Most recently she spotlighted Heather Meyerend, not a famous person, but a nurse. Her story starts on page 62…… Continue reading A Hospice Nurse is Featured in The New Yorker
THE TIME IS RIGHT
Originally posted on Nursing Stories & Other Tales:
A friend deliberated whether she should visit her father for his 95th birthday. She was swamped with commitments. Since he was unaware of his birthday as well of his surroundings and didn’t even recognize his three daughters, there was no urgency to travel to another state. However,…
Baby Found A Home
There is one story I wrote that still chokes me up every time I read it. How could it be that something that happened over 40 years ago could still feel so raw? I walk down the hall of that ten-room pediatric unit in my mind—passing the linen closet on the left, the utility rooms…… Continue reading Baby Found A Home
FAMILIES STORIES
A few years ago, I started to snail-mail a list of questions to my Aunt Anna and she would write down the responses on the pages and mail them back to me. She was my father’s youngest sister and last survivor from a family of ten—five boys and five girls. I entered some of her…… Continue reading FAMILIES STORIES
THE TIME IS RIGHT
A friend deliberated whether she should visit her father for his 95th birthday. She was swamped with commitments. Since he was unaware of his birthday as well of his surroundings and didn’t even recognize his three daughters, there was no urgency to travel to another state. However, she cleared her schedule and made the trip,…… Continue reading THE TIME IS RIGHT
VANISHED Part 3 of 3
A couple of weeks after our hallway discussion, I spotted them exiting the elevator. Margaret pushed Josie in the wheelchair with one hand while lugging an IV pole with the other, rushing to the back door of the building and out to the parking lot in a obvious effort to avoid me. The bottle that…… Continue reading VANISHED Part 3 of 3
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