Death is typically depicted in our society as a mostly negative event. It's terrifying, loud, abrupt. Like most people, I used to be afraid of death. Maybe I worried if I were exposed to its clutches too long, I would end up sucked into its gaping maw and flung into the dark void of loneliness, …
Tag: Death
Love You (Part 2)
My elderly mother sat across from me at her kitchen table, staring down at the sliced strawberries in her cereal. I noticed she was nervously stirring the milk with her spoon, unsure of what to do next. "I can't eat this," she sighed, "I can't swallow it." Her eyes met mine. A petrified little girl …
Love You (Part 1)
You cannot take on her pain. She has to go through this on her own. The voice sliced through my frenzied thoughts as I sat alone at the traffic light. It was commanding, leaving no room for argument. I silently cried as jolts of fear coursed through my body. I knew that was true. But …
Sorry, God
Are you there God? It's me, jackass. I've been reading several books on near death experiences about people who've apparently died, only to come back to life so they can tell us what happens when you cross over. Most of the stories are similar: there's a long tunnel, a bright light, all-encompassing love, indescribable peace...yadda, yadda, yadda... …
Sequoia
I dreamed of shadows and sheltered things beneath the tree with golden leaves. Today the mighty trunk sliced bare as bone, the rings rough and splintered, you take my hand as we count the lives together. A thousand deaths, a thousand loves, a thousand circles bound us with frayed fibers, spinning its thread, the splinters …
The Bad Psychic
Ronald MacDonald was a bad psychic. Growing up on the hardscrabble streets of Punta Gorda, his childhood dream was simple: to help people understand that there is more to life than just the physical world. And also -- no, he's not friends with the Hamburgler, so just shut the hell up about it. Ronald's first …
The Final Curtain
This is a true story that happened over 13 years ago. "Say your goodbye," the emergency room doctor suggested, his eyes brimming with compassion. But the deep wrinkles etched across his brow revealed the weariness of all the pain and death they had witnessed behind the hastily drawn curtain. Say your goodbye. The …
Listen
When I lie down to die I hope you make a feathered nest of downy white flicked with silvery gold, and its velvet strands will be enough to cradle my fading heart. When I lie down to die and the last tear slips across my cheek, I hope the doves will gather to coo a melody strung with faded memories into my …
Happy Impending Death Day!
Our culture doesn't do so well with death. We don't like to talk about it or even think about it. Except for people who were born and raised in Maine. We're more down-to-earth types who treat death like it's a bad dentist appointment. Yeah it's gonna happen to you one day so you might as well suck it up, deal …
A Starry Night in November
November 17, 1991. What was it about the air that day? Sharp and bright, laced with the scent of burnt amber leaves. The sweet promise of decay and death infused my senses, yet a bitter taste lingered on my tongue. Something wondrous and beautiful tugged at the frayed edges of my mind. Those worn gossamer threads were unraveling, and it chilled me to …
She's A Maineiac 