The Stories.... Oh, the Stories!!! Life Lessons from End-of-Life Wisdom

About the Book

"As anyone who has dealt with the dying will attest, it is, in fact, dealing with death these many years that has taught me the preciousness of life."

Finding herself in a time of restlessness and transition in her own life, the author looks for inspiration from the Hospice patients she had been privileged to work with for the past 16 years, remembering the stories they had shared with her about what life had meant to them. What were they proud of? What were their regrets? What were the ingredients that went into someone's sense that they had had a very full life? How did the families left behind cope with the loss? She soon found that the "Stories" were rich and varied, and offered much wisdom about life, even, or maybe especially from, the children who had lost people close to them. It can be a real wake-up call to discover that, for the most part, we die as we've lived.

Adding poignant quotes and poetry, the surprising humor that people could find in their situations, as well as her own personal experiences, this book is about the insights and renewed enthusiasm for life that she gained, from 2-year-olds to 95-year-olds, about living life to the fullest. What came up again and again is that it is the Love we leave behind that is all that matters. It is not so much what we do, as how we do it.

She includes suggestions for helping children to deal with loss, part of what her own work at Hospice entailed.

Consequently we are invited to re-examine our own "stories", to change what no longer satisfies us, and to rekindle our own goals and dreams.

About the Author

Denise Archambault, M.A., LICSW, is a clinical social worker and has worked in the oncology unit of two hospitals, and for a hospice program for 16 years. She currently has a holistic private therapy practice specializing in loss and transition. She lives in Lincoln, Rhode Island.