By Sallie Tisdale, the author of nine books, most recently Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them)
1. People really want to talk about dying, but have a hard time admitting to their fears. People think they should have it all sorted out, and are embarrassed to admit that they don't.
2. Everyone has said "the wrong thing" to someone at one time or another. I've collected a long list of things not to say at the bedside of a dying person, but it's important to remember that we slip up, and being able to say "I'm sorry" is helpful.
3. The most experienced professionals turn into emotional, awkward, grieving people when someone they love is dying. We lose a person we love exactly once. Every time, it's new.
4. It's a big relief to realize that we can laugh about death and dying, that weird and funny things happen, that dying people can be morbid and sarcastic and happy like everyone else.
5. Dead bodies are difficult objects to handle. What to do with one's own dead body is a big question, especially for people who have grown up with an environmentally oriented view. The emergence of sustainable practices around corpses is important and welcome.
About Sallie Tisdale
Sallie Tisdale is the author of nine books, most recently Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them). Her other books include Talk Dirty to Me, Stepping Westward, and Women of the Way. Her collection of essays, Violation, was published in 2015 by Hawthorne Books. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, Antioch Review, Conjunctions, Threepenny Review, The New Yorker, and Tricycle, among other journals. She has received a number of honors for her work. Tisdale teaches part-time in the writing program at Portland State University.
