Aging well has always been my goal. In fact, for as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to live to be 100. Not just any 100, but a vibrant, satisfying kind of century-old status. I watched my father slip away—first mentally, then physically—with dementia. And I accompanied my mother as she journeyed toward her death. […]
A Father and Child Reunion (An essay on a father. And forgiveness.)
By Jennifer Norstrom Silbert Exactly one year ago tonight, my brothers, their wives, and I were standing vigil over my dad’s hospice bed at my parents’ home in Wisconsin. We expected, but didn’t know for sure, that Dad wouldn’t make it through the night. His cancer had roared back into his life just three weeks […]
Freshly Dug Graves (A list essay on what to expect when you lose your mother.)
-Less than 24 hours home from vacation, I reach for my phone. To call my mother to say I’m back, that I’ll visit soon. Then I remember, she’s no longer here. -Flying back east from our Arizona Fiesta Bowl adventure, I check my phone calendar. “Order flowers for Mom’s January 15th birthday.” Throat tight, I delete […]
Death 101: The Art of Dying (as taught by Atul Gawande…and my mother)
I’ve come a long way, baby. From being the scarediest of cats about so many things. High bridges, for instance. And death. For the longest time, my parents sheltered my brothers and me from post-mortem matters. It wasn’t until the eighth grade that I attended a funeral, my paternal grandfather’s. In the back of the […]
Good Grief: How to Be a Blessing in Times of Loss
Death and dying freak me out. Scratch that. Death and dying used to freak me out. About a dozen years ago, I lost five loved ones in less than two years: my father-in-law, my grandmother, my aunt, my father, and Nana, my grandmother-in-law. That season pretty much desensitized my death phobia. I was sitting in […]
