"You do not owe the dying — or the dead — a better story than the one they lived."
My sister died a few months ago.
I didn’t announce it. I didn’t post about it. When I learned she was in hospice, I kept that information to myself.
Others did not.
A family friend reached out first, urging me to fly across the country to be at my sister’s bedside. Then relatives got in touch. Then acquaintances. People who didn’t know the details of our relationship but felt comfortable directing my response to her dying.
Each time, I replied the same way: “Thanks for the info.”
He didn’t try to tell me everything would be all right, because it wouldn’t have been. If he hadn’t been there, I would have been…
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