Hopes, Dreams and Reflections at Midwinter
To the Life and Death Matters Community, Ted and I want to express our gratitude, care, concern and hopes as the holiday season approaches. We are a community with diverse perspectives and beliefs. Some of us celebrate the Winter Solstice, others celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and other faith-based festivals. For each, even within the same faith […]
Reflecting on Remembrance Day and Three Important Things I Learned
My heart is full as I remember – Remembrance Day. And my heart is full as I consider – today – the news – wars, deaths due to toxic drug supply, intimate violence, racism, poverty, climate change, fear. Loss and grief are not just personal. We experience loss and we grieve individually, in community, nationally […]
Book Recommendation: Unobservable: Poems of Grief and Grace, by Siobhan Westrop
In October 2019 Ted and I flew to join Siobhan. We desired to support her in her grief. We walked the beaches together. Four months earlier, her eldest son, Saren, who was 22 years old died in a freak accident in the mountains, doing what he loved. Little did we know. Three months later, our […]
Let’s talk about reframing nursing homes as community hubs
Written by Kath Murray & Ann-Marie Gilbert How it started As a teenager, I volunteered and poured tea at the small nursing home (rest home) where my great-grandmother lived. It was a few blocks from my high school. Granny celebrated her 100th birthday there, she helped with meal prep and even helped “care for” the […]
