Dessert First : Preparing For Death While Savoring Life

What if we embraced death as a meaningful destination on the journey, rather than a dreaded landmark? How would that change the way we think about death, dying and grief … and how we live, now?

In the year she served as a chaplain in a hospital “death ward,” Dana Trent accompanied more than 200 people – and their families – on their passage from life to death. Dessert First gathers those stories and lessons, as well as others learned from the year she spent with her own dying mom, to illuminate the complexity of death and grief, and how we all might better prepare for a “good death.” Dessert First is a deeply personal, touching, and sometimes even humorous look at death and dying, and the ways we cope and create meaning for the inevitable end of life. Final chapters include religious, spiritual, practical, and legal resources for the reader and their loved ones.