4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Sacredness of Death, July 8, 2002
This review is from: Standing the Watch: Memories of a Home Death (Paperback)
I am always surprised how few people realize the sacredness of death, what an honor and privilege it is to be present at that moment. By participating in the death of a loved one, by attending to their death with the same seriousness of purpose as their birth, we learn how to die. After all, who else teaches us? How else do we learn? I like STANDING THE WATCH because it faces death head on. Rebecca Brown pulls no punches. Since we are all going to die, and know people who will die before us, this is definitely a book to keep within easy reach.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great story of a deathing experience, August 23, 2002
This review is from: Standing the Watch: Memories of a Home Death (Paperback)
Helping a friend or loved one through their final transition is one of life's most rewarding treasures. As a hospice nurse I consider midwifing death a challenge with a payoff in unmeasurablly rich emotional & spiritual experiences.
Rebecca takes us on her journey thru her deathing gift to "Poppa" and lets us see the healing, the insights & the blessings a Home Death can be. She artfully weaves her history, Popa's story & current bedside happenings. The humor of willful equipment balances frustrations with the medical system and the clergy. The long hours keeping watch & the fearfulness of managing cardiac pain are authentically detailed from her journal.
This story is very timely with so many families taking on the challenge of a Home Death and Rebecca's articulate and folksy writing style make for a very readable and fascinating tale.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a chance to do it right, July 25, 2002
This review is from: Standing the Watch: Memories of a Home Death (Paperback)
STANDING THE WATCH grew out of the logs I had to keep for the State & the home health nurses, emails with my friends who gathered around me, & essays & memories of when I took care of my beloved father-in-law in the last years of his long-lived life.
You know how death can be a conversation-stopper! It came into my adopted family's home in London, England, when I was 15, & my father died after a long illness, at home in his bed. While my mother told me I was too young to participate, I thought much about dying & death. I learnt it was a taboo subject, as if dying was like getting an F in life.
In the early 1990s on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, I married a man who had promised his father that he would take care of him for the rest of his life. As we homesteaded in the rainforest, I felt I was being given a second chance at both having a father in my life again, & being gifted with participating in Standing The Watch for a loved-one.
STANDING THE WATCH takes you gently into my world as my elder lies dying. You will read about my fears & joys, anger & affection, as well as precious funny moments. Day by day, memory after memory, you will be at my side during one of the most difficult & thrilling times in the life of a family.
"Soon more people will have matured into eldership than ever before. No matter our ethnic roots, our age will make us a majority. No one gets out of life alive, so how then will we choose to die?"
I have written STANDING THE WATCH as if you have come to tea to listen to the memories of Poppa's enjoyment of living in a cabin he helped build, relish his companion Buddy-dog, & enjoy his golden years until he begins to experience dramatic & painful "heartburn" episodes.
If you are facing the death of your parents, or a loved-one. If you are undecided about taking care of them. If the idea of dying worries you - then reading STANDING THE WATCH will give you some comfort & some idea of what you will face in the future. It will answer many of your questions about death, dying and what a home death is like.
While STANDING THE WATCH is about Poppa's final thirteen days, it is also my tribute to all parents. I hope it brings you tears, laughter & comfort when your time comes to step forward & Stand The Watch for your parents.
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