Question: Howdy Luise: You really impress me as quite a trooper and wise soul. I enjoy reading all your articles. That said, I was wondering if you had any spiritual insight into the difference between a burial and a cremation? I know this question may seem a little gruesome, but you do have a category [...]

Question: Dear Luise: My mom is dying and it’s not going to be long. She has no meaningful religious connections and has made no requests. My dad and siblings don’t want to ask her what she’d like because no one wants to face this. And well, to tell the truth, even though I’m thirty-five and [...]

Question: Dear Luise: How can I deal with the pain of my Mom’s death? Luz Answer: Dear Luz: We have to deal with the pain of losing a loved one very, very slowly. They are with us and then, suddenly, they aren’t. Even if there is a long illness, and we think we’re ready, most [...]

Question: Dear Luise: I’m having a terrible time over my mother’s death. She passed very recently and I thought I was ready. She was almost 96, and really wanted to go. She was terribly weak, couldn’t think clearly or talk well, and was generally pretty much out of it and miserable. She wanted to stay [...]

Question: Dear Luise: My mother is very close to death. It’s been a long and terrible experience for her, and for all of us. I am trying to keep everyone and everything on as even a keel as I can. I don’t know how to counsel my teen age children or face my mother’s request [...]