1: “So many of my clients tell me profound, beautiful things about their loved ones,” Diane Button writes in her wonderful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

Yet, when asked if they have shared those thoughts or would like to write them down so they can be shared, they often reply, “I’m sure they already know” or “It goes without saying.”

As an end-of-life … continue reading

1: “Why is it so hard to let go?” Marilyn said.

Marilyn was ninety-six years old. A naturally curious person, she had engaged Diane Button, an end-of-life doula, because she wanted to die well.

“She was willing and even excited to do the work to make that happen,” Diane writes in her wonderful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

Initially, Marilyn told Diane … continue reading

1: “Our conversations started out funny and just got funnier,” Diane Button writes in her wonderful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

Diane and Franck Battelli, both end-of-life doulas, were meeting with Greg, 53, who was dying from ALS.

Before proceeding, Greg wanted to make sure it would be a good fit.

“He let us know in a very serious tone of voice that … continue reading

1: Randall was frustrated.

“Everyone wants to know how I’m doing, if I’m sleeping, and what treatments I’m having,”  Diane Button writes in her wonderful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

“Don’t they understand this is the this is the last think in the world I want to talk about?” Randall said.

“I want to talk about life, and love, and how everyone is … continue reading

One of my clients said, on her deathbed, “This is so beautiful…and so warm. There is light, everywhere.” Lomi, age 76

1: “Please forgive me! Please forgive me!” Ruth exclaimed.

“She was sitting up with her eyes open wide,”  Diane Button writes in her powerful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

The seventy-year-old Ruth was experiencing severe distress and agitation. Diane, who serves as … continue reading

1: “We live as if we can control the hands of time,” Diane Button writes in her wonderful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

“We spend time, waste time, lose time, save time, kill time, and buy time,” Diane notes. “We live as if the clock ticks based on our own needs and desires.”

And yet, time is finite. And we never know how … continue reading

1: Scott had been diagnosed with prostate cancer several years before. But now the cancer had returned to his lymph nodes and bones, and he was in constant pain.

Scott’s wife, Susan, reached out to Diane Button, an end-of-life doula—someone who provides emotional and practical support to people who are dying and their families. This role is similar to that of a birth doula, but for end-of-life care.

“Scott didn’t … continue reading

1: Diane Button had been living in Nashville for only a year when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“Whether it was divine providence or sheer luck, during a time when our family truly needed help,” Diane writes in her book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living, “people showed up from almost everywhere.”

One afternoon, while recovering from surgery and starting chemotherapy, Diane heard … continue reading

1: Bo had Parkinson’s disease. He was sixty-one years old.

“He lived alone for two decades until he needed extra care, and moved back to the town where his kids and ex-wife still lived,” Diane Button writes in her wonderful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

Bo went to live with Joon, his youngest daughter, whose husband was in the army and was deployed … continue reading

1: Eleanor Brown took out her journals and sighed.

“There were some good times,” she said, “but mostly these journals are filled with over fifty years of dreams that never came true.”

She confided this to  Diane Button, her end-of-life doula.

Eleanor was seventy-two years old. She had been journaling since she was 21.

She flipped through the pages, reading entries aloud, as Diane recalls in her powerful book … continue reading