ABSTRACT
When an elderly person dies after a long and debilitating illness, your mind and your heart may tell you different things. Your mind may tell you that this was inevitable, or that it was his or her time to go, or if there was much suffering, that it was for the best. But your heart says, “This was Mamma; this was Daddy,” or in the heartwrenching tragedy of Terri Schiavo, “This was my little girl.” Nothing the mind can say can negate that anguish. Only a language of the heart, such as a ceremony, can address that loss.
