What are the top regrets of the dying? That's what Kerry Egan, a hospice chaplain, learned as she listened to her patients on their deathbeds, witnessing what she calls the 'spiritual work of dying' - the work of finding or making meaning of one's life, the experiences it contained and the people who have touched it. In this book she recalls the stories she heard - stories of hope and regret, shame and pride, mystery and revelation, and secrets held too long. This isn't a book about dying - it's a book about living. Each of Egan's patients taught her something; in this moving and beautiful book, she imparts their poignant and profound lessons on how to live a life without regrets.

Contents

the stories we tell - 1
the crucible of love - 25
gloria baby - 31
if i had only known, i would have danced more - 55
where theres breath, theres hope - 61
living in the gray - 73
jeremiah - 89
born, and born again,and again - 115
love and other real things - 133
ordinary agels - 155
imagination and suffering - 175
dying is just a verb - 185
it's a beautiful life and then you leave it - 197
acknowledgments - 207