Varsel was a great man

Our family was in Utah this past weekend for Elaine's father's funeral. Varsel was a great man, lived a good life and died well after being on hospice for about a month and died with his family around him. As I contemplate my own life's trajectory and look toward my end of life, I hope I can do as well. Coincidently, I was listening to NRP this morning, as I usually do while I shave, and Krista Tippits was interviewing Dr. Ira Bylog, a leading figure in hospice in the United States. He talked about how we can understand dying as a time of learning, repair, and completion of our lives and in that sense, its a positive human experience. "When I die," he said, "I want to feel like I have finished the things I wanted to do and that I have completed preparations for my family that will survive me." I think that makes dying a much more positive experience than that it might otherwise be.