I am someone that has walked the end of life path and sat vigil at the bedside of several people as they took their final breaths, and parted this life.   I am someone that has supported friends and family alike, as they have worked through the experience of losing a family member, friend, or pet.  I am someone that studies profusely, trains, contemplates, and practices an effort to help others (those dying, planning ahead, and their loved ones) to make an effort to experience their best death.  I have seen and felt the continuing sting of grief, the frustrations of our cultural obsession with pretending death won’t happen (in the medical, corporate, and private worlds), and had to navigate the process, often without the benefit of any forethought or guiding words from the dying, as to their wishes.  I am someone that does not see the benefit in ignoring the reality of death and dying, and I know the brutal, painful, stressful, and complicated path that lies ahead for me and others, when we fail to honor the simple idea of “Memento Mori” – Latin for “Remember you must die”. 

I finally tired of saying and hearing, "There must be a better way!"  There is a better way, and though it is still a taboo subject in much of Western culture, I have been called to step out and claim a role in helping the curious and the willing to find that way.