About Me

My first impression of death was calm and homey. I said a prayer at my great-grandmother’s bedside, at her home in Somerville on a Sunday after church. I was told she had seen an angel at the foot of her bed the night before so it was time to say goodbye.

There were a lot of wakes and funerals in my life when I was young. Kneeling at a casket wasn’t comfortable but it also wasn’t foreign. Still, I was rarely given the opportunity to say goodbye. I was often not allowed anywhere near someone who was sick or dying, and never if they were in the hospital. When I was five, a person very close to me suffered a sudden medical incident and died, but I wasn’t allowed to say goodbye to her at the hospital, nor could I attend the funeral, which bothers me still.

As an adult, a close family member told me not to be at the bedside of another close family member when she was taken off life support because I’d never forget it. I was at her bedside and I wish I could have done more for her and for others that day because it was very hard in that cold bare room. I felt the calling to do more again a few years ago at the bedside of a beloved uncle when he passed, at home surrounded by family in the most loving and beautiful way possible. His passing led me to this work, and training as an end-of-life doula and funeral celebrant.

Most people do not want to talk about death and dying, which means that it is very hard to talk to anyone about it when you most need to. It is especially hard for older parents to engage adult children in conversations about end-of-life worries, choices, needs, changes, priorities and the like. As an end-of-life advocate I approach this work with professional detachment, allowing you to do the work and create the documents, video and voice recordings, legacy projects, eulogies, time capsules, advanced directives and more that will be the guide for your end-of-life choices and wishes, based in your values and morals.