Death Happens

As far as I know there are no more baseball games scheduled for Friday night, November 1, 2013.  I have something that I think you might find very interesting to watch on TV instead.  There will be a documentary series premiering on Showtime at 9PM ET titled Time of Death It will be a documentary series which will track real people as they come face to face with their own mortality. Here’s what this remarkable documentary is all about: “What are the final weeks, days and very moments of life really like? TIME OF DEATH offers an unflinching, intimate look at remarkable people facing their own mortality. Cameras follow these brave, terminally ill individuals as they live out the end of their lives, supported by family, friends, and dedicated healthcare and hospice workers who gently guide the process. This groundbreaking documentary series provides a tangible, hopeful reminder of the finite nature of our time here on earth.” Wow!  Imagine what it must be like to put yourself in front of the cameras as you face the end of your life.  These are definitely some brave souls.  They must have felt that it was so important to have these public conversations about death that they are willing to share their own extremely personal journeys towards the ends of their lives with the rest of the world.  That is quite honorable. I intend to watch, or at least tape it to watch later. I think having conversations about death is so very important and the conversations should not be tabled for “another day”.  Death is inevitable.  Most of the time, we don’t know when death is actually going to happen, but sometimes we do.        When one’s illness is clearly not reversable and the end of life is near, there is still precious time for conversations and time available to make a plan.  A plan helps to make informed, respected, and thus honored decisions. That plan might include the following:

  • many meaningful conversations about end-of-life care
  • an opportunity to put wishes in writing
  • think about what is important to you
  • figure out how involved you want loved ones to be
  • express your concerns and desires
  • items on a Bucket List
  • get your legal documents in order 
  • complete an advanced directive and health care proxy
  • sign a living will
  • resolve conflict, patch relationships
  • tell those you love, that you love them

I hope not to be in a position any time soon, like the persons we will “meet” on November 1 as they reveal their end-of-life journeys; but I can tell you that making a plan-whether you are terminally ill, healthy as an ox, or somewhere in between-is easy to do and a gift for your loved ones. If you do watch this documentary series, please comment below as to what impact it made on your thoughts about creating a plan for when the inevitable happens to you.   After all, death happens…

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