I received the following from an expert in San Francisco named Stan Goldberg:
As a bedside hospice volunteer for six years, I've often been involved in helping adult children express gratitude for a parent as he or she approaches death. These precious moments not only provide closure for survivors, but also make the journey easier for the person who is dying. However, for some people who are dying, the timing doesn't work. For one patient whose mother just died, the expression of love came as she, along with a few other volunteers performed a ritualized bath for her mother. For twenty minutes, as we cleaned her body and cried, the woman's daughter went through a litany of events she regretted.
This story and others involving my hospice service appear in my new book LESSONS FOR THE LIVING: STORIES OF FORGIVENESS, GRATITUDE, AND COURAGE AT THE END OF LIFE (to be released June 9th)
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