As some readers know, I had the privilege of spending time with my mother-in-law as she came to the end of her life (you can read lots more about this time–which I see as a time of great hope–in Penelope Ayers: A Memoir). Our daughter Penny is named for her grandmother, whom we now call Grand Penny, and Grand Penny knew how she wanted to die: at home, with minimal medical intervention, surrounded by the people she loved. It was a great gift to be with her in the months and then days leading up to her death, and it was a great gift to be able to say goodbye in her home rather than in a hospital room. It’s worth thinking about well in advance of the time when death becomes immanent. So I recommend “A Final Cocoon: Dying at Home” as one preliminary way to think about what it means to die well.
I was intrigued by Erica Jong’s article for the Wall Street Journal this week: “Mother Madness,” in which she discusses the need for working moms (and really all moms) to make choices that juggle the needs of home and work.
Finally, I found “The Republican Revolution: Real This Time,” from Time, a helpful look at how to combat the deficit rather than simply keep politicians in power.
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