Death

I'm well aware that the scale of this blog discussion has been heavily tipping in the Life direction lately, what with Critter and the garden and all. It's been all about birth and growth and cultivation of life. But, what about death? I'm not ignoring it. It's a fundamental part of everything; so first, it can't really be ignored and second, I still actually feel like it's so very important to open space and dialogue about it.

But I feel a little stuck. Like some kind of writer's block for the swirling world of thoughts that I want to share. Any of you random readers out there have any questions or prompts for me? A little help over here??

Actually, I'm really excited about the potential to start a new endeavor. As far as I'm concerned, volunteer work is one of the greatest things ever, and I've found an avenue to pursue about which I'm really excited. It's called a Death Café, I heard about it on NPR, and it looks like I may be partnering up with another Austin woman who is interested in hosting one of these with me. Here is the Death Café blog site:

 http://www.deathcafe.com/

In a nutshell, it's an event hosted by two people-- one person plays primary host role and the other primary facilitator role-- and the idea is that people attend to discuss death. There are so many directions I imagine going with events like this, so I'm really eager to get it started. Hopefully, by the end of Spring, we'll have one organized and put out there to interested Austin residents. So far I have plenty of ideas (as I'm sure my potential partner does too), so all we are left needing will be a venue and all the food and administrative details ironed out.

In other life/death discussion news, I think I'll start a book list. Right now I'm reading The Gift of Therapy, by Irvin Yalom, which has at least one chapter on death. Other books that I can remember off the top of my head include, but are certainly not limited to: Man's Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl; Dying Well, by Ira Byock; and all the Kubler-Ross books. I'll get back to you on this one as I remember them and read more....