Death and Dying: Reflections on this journey we call life

17 years ago  I had a profound summer job experience that changed my life.

Every morning I would drive a long, white American Red Cross station wagon across town picking up 8 or 9 thirteen-year old girls who had committed to volunteering their summer through a program called Youth Volunteer Corps. I was between my sophomore and junior years in college, and hired as a Project Coordinator, in charge of all activity for our summer assignment: to work at a hospice center located in a beautiful mountain setting in Colorado Springs, CO.

Little did I know at the time that this experience would be transformational for not only me, but for several of the girls I grew to know and keep in touch with over the years.

Today as I was cleaning my office, I found old photos and a letter written one year after that summer experience by one of the student volunteers as a personal narrative for a school assignment. Seeing the precious photos and reading this letter have inspired me to scan it all and post online to share with those girls and anyone dealing with death and dying.

We had all gotten really close to Sally, a lady we met 8 weeks before she died at the hospice center. She taught us all a lot about living that summer–and with the kind of wisdom you possess when you find out you’re going to die in 6 – 8 weeks. And she did it with such humor and grace. She said:

“I am trying to open your eyes about death because death isn’t something to be afraid of–it is a part of life….We come from God and we will go to God.”

I realized today that these memories need to be shared – not stored away in a photo album never to be seen. It’s cool to think I’ll be able to share Sally’s message of hope all these years later. Working with Sally and others at the hospice center that summer inspired me to also interview my father (which I did later that Fall). I remember feeling brave when I asked him about his ideal funeral and laughed at his request to “play lots of James Brown”. I felt then as I do now a calling to somehow use my multimedia skills to help my family & friends preserve memories and share moments highlighting the meaning of life.