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Funeral Homes to Offer Free Rides to the Polls This Week
Funeral homes across the U.S. are offering seniors a limo ride to get out the voteNov. 3, 2020, is Election Day in the U.S., and despite the option for mail-in voting in many states, thousands of people are still in need of a ride to the polls. This is especially true of seniors, the disabled, and other vulnerable populations, many of whom either don’t own a vehicle, don’t drive, or…
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Refunds for Prepaid Funeral Services During COVID
Funeral homes may offer refunds for prepaid funeral services affected by the pandemicThe COVID-19 pandemic has complicated nearly every part of life, including funerals, burials, and other memorial services. Prepaying for funeral services has benefits and drawbacks, but over the years it has increased in popularity as more people try to plan funeral services ahead of time. Consumer protections for funeral services vary from state to state,…
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“How Can I Keep from Singing?”
A 19th-century hymn reimagined as a folk song, later revived by Enya, offers peace in turbulent timesSome messages are universal and lasting, but they tend to don new robes as decades and even centuries pass and new generations discover anew their timeless truths. Consider “How Can I Keep from Singing?” — a song that, penned first as a hymn in 1860, was revived as a folk song with populist overtones in…
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What to Say to a Friend Whose Spouse Has Dementia
Listening, providing respite and being a sounding board are just some of the ways to support a spousal care partnerFor some, it starts with communication problems; for others, it’s forgetfulness. When a friend learns their spouse has dementia, they find themselves at the beginning of a long and often harrowing journey — one characterized by grief, loss, isolation and loneliness. Kevin Jameson and his wife, Ginny, had been seeing a marriage counselor for about…
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“Dear Life”
Reflections on loss, love, and living while dying from a palliative care specialist unfold in this bookIn her memoir “Dear Life,” Rachel Clarke recounts the unusual journey that led to her work as a palliative care physician in a UK hospice. Growing up with a passion for science and a child’s reverence for her doctor father, Clarke spent several years as a documentary filmmaker before going into medicine. Clarke started out…
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Resolving Conflict at the End of Life Can Bring Peace and Grace (Interview)
An interview with professional conflict mediator Kimberly BestMediator and conflict resolution specialist Kimberly Best has a heart trained in peace and peacemaking, including resolving conflict at the end of life. Those two things have been at the center of a lifetime of service, spanning a career that has taken her from hospital emergency rooms to conflicts between partners and loved ones to…
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“Dressing”
Sarah Ruhl’s “Dressing”We all have wounds we press harder to ease the ache. Again and again in her plays, essays, and poems, Sarah Ruhl celebrates the life of her father and grieves his death from cancer in 1994. In her book “44 Poems for You,” Ruhl talks both about her father and to him. The poem “Dressing” directly…
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A Pregnancy Loss Felt Round the World
Following a miscarriage in their second trimester, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend used social media to speak openly about the pain of losing son Jack — and the act inspired a tidal wave of empathy as others came forward with their own untold storiesFor days, Chrissy Teigen kept more than 45 million Instagram and Twitter followers worldwide apprised of complications in the pregnancy of her third child. The model and TV personality shared scenes from a hospital stay — a worrisome blood clot, photos of hospital food, trying with musician husband John Legend to detect their baby’s heartbeat…
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