Hello fellow soul-catchers, and welcome.

It is believed the sparrow gathers the soul of the deceased and carries it to heaven. A symbol of love, spiritual connection and community, it's everything I wanted when my mom died, when my friends died, when my dad died. I didn’t have it. So here I am bringing it to you and our community, learning a whole lot about life and death along the way.
 
As I type this, Peaches and laptop on my lap - two rooms away, Stefanie rests. Lily, our Licensed Funeral Director and one of the most empathetic people I have ever met, is with her family. And, we’re helping three families hit by COVID-19 apply for little-known and confusing FEMA funding. I wonder what my mom would think about my day. And while I can’t ask her, there’s little room for question: my mom would be thrown I changed my career to death. She was always trying to get away from death, and here I am inviting it in, sitting right next to it.
 
At Death, Decisions and Desserts, we invited a healthy young group (under 30 and me) to Sparrow to learn more about all that needs to be done when you die. Skeptical at first— who doesn’t want to live forever?— they found connection in death. One of the participants found his dream viking funeral: to be set off to sea in flames (not yet legal in the US). Upon learning diamonds can be made, another was very certain, “I want to be turned into a diamond.” Another, “I now know what I want and it involves a lot of flowers and a cardboard box.”
 
For those who have lost someone, I’m glad we are beginning our monthly Grief Support Group, led by the incredibly mindful Sonya Farrell, LMSW. It’s Monday, March 7 at 6:15pm and every first Monday following.
 
Now, it’s nothing to do with government funds or diamonds, but I recently read The Radical Woman Behind Goodnight Moon. What a full life lived fully.
 
And, when someone dies, don’t send a fruit basket. Much better: a cozy blanket.