Lessons for the Living

Kathleen was a hospice-care volunteer for ten years. And now she is facing her own end of life. “We are not used to dealing with death in a matter-of-fact way,” she says. People always say to her, ‘Oh, you’re not dying,’ which she says happens every day, at least once. "This is all crap," she says, in her very matter-of-fact manner.

“Volunteering takes away all the mystery around dying,” she says. “I am living today as fully as I am able,” she adds. “I am resting up for a fabulous dinner party tonight. The wine will be good. The conversation will be good. That’s it.

"I hope for nothing, and that makes me a happy woman.”

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