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Mommy, will I ever see Buddy again? How do we explain to our little ones that their beloved pets have… gone home to be with the Lord? Do our loyal animal companions understand how deeply they are missed? For children, the sudden loss of a precious pet can inspire difficult questions about life and death. How can we reassure mourning youngsters that our dearly departed pets have found everlasting peace? Gary Kurz, acclaimed author of Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates and Wagging Tails in Heaven, provides thoughtful guidance on soothing a child’s heartbreak after the passing of a beloved four-legged friend—affirming that through their unconditional love, every one of them has a unique place in heaven. Sensitive and insightful, When Is Buddy Coming Home? reveals the power of faith in the wake of grief, uplifting animal lovers of all ages with the comfort that separation from our loved ones—including those with paws, tails, and wings—is only temporary.
A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org.Documenting Death is a gripping ethnographic account of… the deaths of pregnant women in a hospital in a low-resource setting in Tanzania. Through an exploration of everyday ethics and care practices on a local maternity ward, anthropologist Adrienne E. Strong untangles the reasons Tanzania has achieved so little sustainable success in reducing maternal mortality rates, despite global development support. Growing administrative pressures to document good care serve to preclude good care in practice while placing frontline healthcare workers in moral and ethical peril. Maternal health emergencies expose the precarity of hospital social relations and accountability systems, which, together, continue to lead to the deaths of pregnant women.
Not knowing what to do, I sat on the church steps and waited. As the gravity of my failure began… to well up in me, I began to cry. . .I Had Lost The Hearse!Funerals and the all the things that accompany them are traditionally somber, contemplative events in which the bereaved look to their undertaker to guide them through that most difficult of times. Of course, sometimes tradition gets thrown under the bus. From a dysfunctional family who turn their mother's wake into a full-blown riot, to funeral crashers looking for free meals, to a horse-drawn hearse taking the dearly departed for the ride of their afterlife, these accounts from actual undertakers will have you laughing, thinking, and gasping in disbelief. A literal graveyard of wild coincidences, slapstick humor, and touching moments, Over Our Dead Bodies explores the lighter side of the dead, the living, and the lone undertaker who has to make it all go as planned--even if it doesn't.
On February 1, 1960, Harry Scott, conscientious objector, psychologist, and mountaineer, was killed while climbing Mt. Cook. Thirty-five years later,… his son set out to look for him. Funny, moving, and beautifully written, this is the story of a father's absence, told partly through the rich and exciting mix of biography, autobiography, and intellectual and social history. HARRY'S ABSENCE is a passionately argued book about New Zealand, addressing the distinction between nationalism and love of country. Finally, it is a recovery, from death, of reasons for living.
This book draws upon thinking about the work of the dead in the context of deindustrialization—specifically, the decline of the… textile industry in Kaduna, Nigeria—and its consequences for deceased workers’ families. The author shows how the dead work in various ways for Christians and Muslims who worked in KTL mill in Kaduna, not only for their families who still hope to receive termination remittances, but also as connections to extended family members in other parts of Nigeria and as claims to land and houses in Kaduna. Building upon their actions as a way of thinking about the ways that the dead work for the living, the author focuses on three major themes. The first considers the growth of the city of Kaduna as a colonial construct which, as the capital of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, was organized by neighborhoods, by public cemeteries, and by industrial areas. The second theme examines the establishment of textile mills in the industrial area and new ways of thinking about work and labor organization, time regimens, and health, particularly occupational ailments documented in mill clinic records. The third theme discusses the consequences of KTL mill workers’ deaths for the lives of their widows and children. This book will be of interest to scholars of African studies, development studies, anthropology of work, and the history of industrialization.
“Still is one of those rare books that catches you up and does not let you go. With grace, courage,… and honesty, Emma Hansen adds an important voice to this tragic and too-often silenced subject. I loved this book.” —Beth Powning, author of Shadow Child: An Apprenticeship in Love and Loss A moving, candid account of one woman’s experience with stillbirth.Emma Hansen is 39 weeks and 6 days pregnant when she feels her baby go quiet inside of her. At the hospital, her worst fears are confirmed: doctors explain that her baby has died, and she will need to deliver him, still.Hansen gives birth to her son, Reid, amidst an avalanche of grief. Nine days later, she publishes a candid essay on her website sharing photos from the delivery room. Much to her surprise, her essay goes viral, sparking positive reactions around the world. Still shares what comes next: a struggle with grief and confusion alongside a desire to better understand stillbirth, which is experienced by more than two million women annually, but rarely talked about in public.At once honest, brave, and uplifting, Still is about one woman’s search for her own definition of motherhood, even as she faces one of life’s greatest challenges: learning to live after loss.
Many hospice social workers must address spiritual issues with their clients, but do not feel competent to do so effectively.… This targeted volume draws upon multidisciplinary theory and research to advance a relational model of spiritually sensitive hospice care. The book will help readers elevate their spiritual competence and foster a relationship with their clients that will enrich the experience for all involved.Spirituality and Hospice Social Work helps practitioners understand various forms of spiritual assessment for use with their clients. The book teaches practitioners to recognize a client's spiritual needs and resources, as well as signs of spiritual suffering. It also discusses religious and spiritual practices that clients may use to enhance their spiritual coping. Spirituality and Hospice Social Work stresses the need for interdisciplinary collaboration with other members of the hospice team, along with the value of maintaining professional ethical standards when addressing spiritual issues. Throughout, the importance of spiritual sensitivity and its effect upon client well-being is emphasized.
This book provides a socio-psychological enquiry of the phenomenon of suicide in the Indian context. It addresses the rising trend… of suicides across the world and through case studies explores its primary reasons, the after-effects on survivors and families, and measures to prevent them. The volume focuses on deciphering the social and psychological meanings associated with suicide. Through an examination of psycho-social autopsies of numerous cases, it highlights the patterns and trends which emerge around mental well-being, suicide, and bereavement. It examines the primary roadblocks for robust suicide prevention measures and provides great insights into behavioural and personality categories and their relationship with suicide. Offering theoretical and empirical perspectives on the issue of suicide and self-harm, this book will be of interest to students, researchers, and faculty of behavioural sciences, psychology, social anthropology, demography, criminology, social work and sociology. It will also be an essential read for psychologists, counsellors, policy makers, NGOs, CSOs, legal experts and media personnel working in the area of suicide prevention and research.
Using Guided Imagery and Hypnosis in Brief Therapy and Palliative Care presents a model for effective single-session therapy. Chapters include… more than a dozen case studies with transcripts and commentary. Readers will learn how to use an adapted model of Remen’s healing circle for preparing patients for surgery, and guided imagery and other approaches are presented for enhancing palliative care. Extensive appendixes provide a wide variety of valuable tools that psychotherapists can use with clients concerned with end-of-life issues.
The true story of one woman's struggle to save her sons from radicalization by Chechen partisans, as told by a… seasoned war reporter.In All Lara's Wars, the great events of the last half-century--the realignment of Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union, and the rise in the Middle East of ISIS and its quest for a new Caliphate--converge in this account of a Chechen-Georgian family whose two sons become radicalized, and how their mother--Lara--travels to Syria by bus and at great risk, not to join them but to bring them home. By then, the older son is a high level commander and the younger son a respected soldier in ISIS's army. The story is told with a sense of wonder at the contemporary world and all the ways it resembles a primitive and violent land where all struggles are to the death, and there is an epic battle going on between forces of good and evil that cannot be understood other than as mythic and larger than life. Lara is a Kist--one of a tiny ethnicity that crossed the Caucasus mountains a century ago to settle in the remote Pankisi Gorge in northern Georgia, a peaceful and isolated paradise. She married a Chechen, moved to Grozny, and became the mother of two sons. When war came to Chechnya, she took her children home to the safe Georgian valley, and later sent them to Western Europe to live with their father--to protect them from the influence of the radical Islamic freedom fighters who had come to the Pankisi Gorge as refugees from the Chechnyan wars. As in all of Wojciech Jagielski's books, he tells here the story of any modern war, how the individual lives of civilians and combatants are obliterated in the sweep of the larger narrative--and how the humanity of these individual lives is revealed, and the price paid in human endurance and persistence and loss. Jagielski observes, listening to Lara and letting her story emerge through the filter of his literary skill. This unusual reportage tells us the facts of the Chechnyan wars and the reality of the Syrian war from the viewpoint of ISIS recruits, but it is also the true account of one ordinary family that became part of the larger tragedy that has claimed so many victims in recent years.
A delicate and darkly witty reflection on loss, marriage, writing, and life in New York from an acclaimed biographer and… memoirist.Dorothy Gallagher&’s husband, Ben Sonnenberg, died in 2010. He had suffered from multiple sclerosis for many years and was almost completely paralyzed, but his wonderful, playful mind remained quite undimmed. In the ten sections of Stories I Forgot to Tell You, Gallagher moves freely and intuitively between the present and the past to evoke the life they made together and her life after his death, alone and yet at the same time never without thoughts of him, in a present that is haunted but also comforted by the recollection of their common past. She talks—the whole book is written conversationally, confidingly, unpretentiously—about small things, such as moving into a new apartment and setting it up, growing tomatoes on a new deck, and as she does she recalls her missing husband&’s elegant clothes and British affectations, what she knew about him and didn&’t know, the devastating toll of his disease and the ways they found to deal with it. She talks about their two dogs and their cat, Bones, and the role that a photograph she never took had in bringing her together with her husband. Her mother, eventually succumbing to dementia, is also here, along with friends, an old typewriter, episodes from a writing life, and her husband&’s last days. The stories Gallagher has to tell, as quirky as they are profound, could not be more ordinary, and yet her glancing, wry approach to memory and life gives them an extraordinary resonance that makes the reader feel both the logic and the mystery of a couple&’s common existence. Her prose is perfectly pitched and her eye for detail unerring. This slim book about irremediable loss and unending love distills the essence of a lifetime.
Un relato honesto y desgarrador sobre la pérdida de un hijo y la confianza en que la muerte no separa… a las almas de los seres queridos. En este libro conmovedor, la actriz chilena Leonor Varela, quien vive actualmente en Estados Unidos, relata la historia vivida con su hijo Matteo, diagnosticado Leukodystrofia AGS a los cuatro meses de vida. Jamás aceptó el diagnóstico de los médicos y emprendió una lucha física, emocional y espiritual para salvarle la vida. En el camino -de comprender lo que ocurría, de observar al hijo como un maestro, de pararse de nuevo- dejó un registro indeleble del amor de una madre, y comenzó a escribir para quitarse la ansiedad, los miedos y la pena. "Pero al mismo tiempo, había un propósito en mi escritura. Guardar memoria de lo inconmensurable, del hecho cierto de que nadie puede quitarnos a nuestros seres queridos, de que habitan dentro de nosotros. De que la muerte es un velo, pero nuestras almas, lo que somos en esencia, siguen unidas."
Revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide with translations in 29… languages.After too many years of unfulfilling work, Bronnie Ware began searching for a job with heart. Despite having no formal qualifications or previous experience in the field, she found herself working in palliative care. During the time she spent tending to those who were dying, Bronnie's life was transformed. Later, she wrote an Internet blog post, outlining the most common regrets that the people she had cared for had expressed. The post gained so much momentum that it was viewed by more than three million readers worldwide in its first year. At the request of many, Bronnie subsequently wrote a book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, to share her story.Bronnie has had a colourful and diverse life. By applying the lessons of those nearing their death to her own life, she developed an understanding that it is possible for everyone, if we make the right choices, to die with peace of mind.In this revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide, with translations in 29 languages, Bronnie expresses how significant these regrets are and how we can positively address these issues while we still have the time. The Top Five Regrets of the Dying gives hope for a better world. It is a courageous, life-changing book that will leave you feeling more compassionate and inspired to live the life you are truly here to live.
When Barbara Abercrombie&’s husband died, she found the language of condolence irritating, no matter how well intended. &“My husband had… not gone to a better place as if he were off on a holiday. He had not passed like clouds overhead, nor was he my late husband as if he&’d missed a train. I had not lost him as if I&’d been careless, and for sure, none of it was for the best.&” She yearned instead for words that acknowledged the reality of death, spoke about the sorrow and loneliness (and perhaps even guilt and anger), and might even point the way toward hope and healing. She found those words in the writings gathered here. The Language of Loss is a book to dip into and read slowly, a collection of poems and prose to lead you through the phases of grief. The selections follow an arc that mirrors the path of many mourners — from abject loss and feeling unmoored, to glimmers of promise and possibility, through to gratitude for the love they knew. These writings, which express what often feels ineffable, will accompany those who grieve, offering understanding and solace.
When the time comes for us to die, how do we say good-bye to our friends, our families, and the… lives we have lived? How do we remain faithful -- to God, to ourselves, and to loved ones -- as we face our final journey? As Marilyn McEntyre acknowledges, these questions are especially challenging because we now live longer than previous generations did, and many of us die more slowly. Those who are dying have a lot of things to deal with -- fear, discouragement, boredom, pain, regret. The list is long. In this book McEntyre offers fifty-two short meditations on the very real issues faced by dying people. She addresses a wide and sensitively chosen range of subjects, including such things as anger, losing control, curiosity, doubt, loss of privacy, family conflict, sadness, gratitude, and even spiritual adventure. McEntyre’s insightful reflections -- offering what she calls “a different kind of hope” -- speak to the heart of the physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of dying. Brief concluding prayers and lines from cherished hymns further lift up the reader as he or she seeks to faithfully navigate the great transition from this life to the next.
On bookshelves around the world, surrounded by ordinary books bound in paper and leather, rest other volumes of a distinctly… strange and grisly sort: those bound in human skin. Would you know one if you held it in your hand?In Dark Archives, Megan Rosenbloom seeks out the historic and scientific truths behind anthropodermic bibliopegy—the practice of binding books in this most intimate covering. Dozens of such books live on in the world’s most famous libraries and museums. Dark Archives exhumes their origins and brings to life the doctors, murderers, innocents, and indigents whose lives are sewn together in this disquieting collection. Along the way, Rosenbloom tells the story of how her team of scientists, curators, and librarians test rumored anthropodermic books, untangling the myths around their creation and reckoning with the ethics of their custodianship. A librarian and journalist, Rosenbloom is a member of The Order of the Good Death and a cofounder of their Death Salon, a community that encourages conversations, scholarship, and art about mortality and mourning. In Dark Archives—captivating and macabre in all the right ways—she has crafted a narrative that is equal parts detective work, academic intrigue, history, and medical curiosity: a book as rare and thrilling as its subject.
What if a gift lived inside grief? For all ages, The Grief Forest is a journey through complicated grieving. Bereavement… is a place. When we grieve, we enter this mysterious world and we do not leave it unchanged. And by meeting our grief, sitting quietly with it and listening to it, we can access its deeper wisdom, helping to heal not only the griever, but the whole world.
In Dear Life, palliative care specialist Dr. Rachel Clarke recounts her professional and personal journey to understand not the end… of life, but life at its end.Death was conspicuously absent during Rachel's medical training. Instead, her education focused entirely on learning to save lives, and was left wanting when it came to helping patients and their families face death. She came to specialize in palliative medicine because it is the one specialty in which the quality, not quantity of life truly matters. In the same year she started to work in a hospice, Rachel was forced to face tragedy in her own life when her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He'd inspired her to become a doctor, and the stories he had told her as a child proved formative when it came to deciding what sort of medicine she would practice. But for all her professional exposure to dying, she remained a grieving daughter. Dear Life follows how Rachel came to understand—as a child, as a doctor, as a human being—how best to help patients in the final stages of life, and what that might mean in practice.
“This book aims to help you relearn your world . . . to help you navigate the grieving process as… best you can—without hiding from your feelings or denying the reality, or significance, of your loss.” —from Resilient Grieving The death of someone we hold dear may be inevitable; being paralyzed by our grief is not. A growing body of research has revealed our capacity for resilient grieving, our innate ability to respond to traumatic loss by finding ways to grow—by becoming more engaged with our lives, and discovering new, profound meaning. Author and resilience/well-being expert Lucy Hone, a pioneer in fusing positive psychology and bereavement research, was faced with her own inescapable sorrow when, in 2014, her 12-year-old daughter was killed in a car accident. By following the strategies of resilient grieving, she found a proactive way to move through her grief, and, over time, embrace life again.Resilient Grieving offers an empowering alternative to the five-stage Kübler-Ross model of grief—and makes clear our inherent capacity for growth following the trauma of a loss that changes everything.
With many jurisdictions considering whether or not to implement new assisted-death legislation, Choosing to Live, Choosing to Die is a… timely look at the subject for teen readers who may not yet have had much experience with death and dying. Readers are introduced to the topic of assisted dying through the author's own story. The issue continues to be hotly debated in families, communities and countries around the world, and there are no easy answers. Choosing to Live, Choosing to Die looks at the issue from multiple perspectives and encourages readers to listen with an open mind and a kind heart and reach their own conclusions.