“Fragments for the End of Life,” The Hedgehog Review (Spring 2025)

“It is easy for me to imagine what I did not see with my own eyes: that my grandmother, not known for her acquiescence in living, displayed no tranquility in dying; that though she was baptized and had received the Eucharist throughout her life, those lifelong graces apparently did not comfort her as death approached. When it became clear to all around her hospital bed that death was coming, that her insistent protestations she would soon return home were illusory and nonsensical, my father said, “Mom, this is the end. Can we spend these moments reaffirming our love for each other and looking forward to a happy reunion in the future?” She refused. She was going home, she said—not to some celestial city but to the suburbs of Philadelphia. There was no commending her spirit into the hands of God or anyone else. Stubborn in life, she was intransigent in death. Death was indifferent to her stubbornness, of course, and took her anyway.”

Read the full essay here.