Death Q & A II

At the end of our first Death Q & A Event, which was full of questions and discussion, we had already gone over the scheduled time, not that it matters. We could have kept talking for hours but I said, let’s stop now. I don’t want this to be a special event. I want it to be normal. Let’s assume we can just do this again next week and the week after. OK?

A few heart emojis went up so that’s what we did.

Now we’ve done it again. Held another event called Death Q & A.

Some people came back. Some new people came. They can’t say I wasn’t clear about what we’d be doing.

Death is not a taboo topic any more but that doesn’t make it comfortable to talk about. We only get comfortable by doing it. That’s why we’re having Death Q & A and why we’re going to keep having it, to make a specific time and space where people can talk about dying.

I actually don’t have answers to most questions, but I like talking about them and so does my co-host Ryan Astheimer. I’ve taught courses and led end of life workshops for counselors and psychologists, religious education groups and high school students. I have the direct experience of cancer and chemo and years of hospice volunteering.

Ryan is younger than I am and he managed to figure some things out a lot quicker than me, with the help of Buddhism and other…