nicholas latkovic

“I’m not anxious about whether there’s a heaven, or there’s music or clouds or whatever. I’m more anxious about the end-of-life journey. I want it to be quiet, contemplative and calm. For me, dying… it’s very enlightening, and certainly rewarding.”

- David Plant, 81

“As A Life’s End Draws Near, A Father And Son Talk”. NPR. 30 Mar. 2012.

“A ‘sick child’ is the hardest two words to ever hear in combination. Almost harder than even a ‘hungry child’. It just shouldn’t be, and unfortunately, as we know, it’s so common. Any institution that works to ease that suffering, to find cures, to do research, to work on behalf of those children… it is a privilege to be able to be a servant to that.”

- Jamie Lee Curtis, actress and humanitarian

Elizabeth Edwards’ oldest daughter, Cate, remembers her mother for both the witty advice she gave about clothing and dating, and also the grace and comfort she gave their family.

iro·ny \ˈī-rə-nē also ˈī(-ə)r-nē\
Function: noun
Date: 1502

1 : a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other’s false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning — called also Socratic irony

2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning b : a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony c : an ironic expression or utterance

3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity b : incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play — called also dramatic irony, tragic irony

-Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Every moment counts.

Diagnosed with terminal cancer, Bob gradually accepts an imminent death coinciding with the birth of his first child. Preoccupied with the notion of immortalizing himself, he quickly begins making home movies to cover all the teachings he would otherwise be there for. Even so, a tendency to withdraw from reality prevents Bob from moving past his biggest fear: giving himself permission to let go. Directed by Bruce Joel Rubin.

Featured music:

Enya. “Storms in Africa”. Watermark. Geffen, Warner Bros., 1988.

Cover design: Rodrigo Corral
Cover photograph: Fredrik Broden

Brandt, Allen M. The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America. United States: Basic Books, 2007.