Don’t allow anything to dent your reading pleasure. Don’t let anyone tell you that what you like isn’t proper, that what brings comfort and ease to your soul isn’t good enough.” And I'm not exactly interested in policing how we speak in this term. I'm more interested in asking why 'cause I'm a product of America, too, and I use these terms sometimes without thinking myself. But I'm interested in saying, what is it about a culture that uses these terms as the only recognizable way to sort of celebrate each other? These terms prevail. It's not like we don't have more wholesome, you know, life-giving terms, but these are the ones that prevail through time.

The Last Act of Love — Dead Good Reading The Last Act of Love — Dead Good Reading

Visit their resting place: If your loved one was buried in a cemetery then visiting their grave and maybe bringing flowers or mementos that remind you of them is a traditional way to remember them on the anniversary of their passing.

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This is the story of what happened to Cathy and her brother, and the unimaginable decision that she and her parents had to make eight years after the night that changed everything. It's a story for anyone who has ever watched someone suffer or lost someone they loved or lived through a painful time that left them forever changed. In death and grief there is is a hierarchy of losses, albeit real or imagined: there will be deaths that are societally valued more than others, and individually we will have ideas of what we imagine are ‘worse’ or ‘better’ losses. Losing a child is pretty high up that list and often described as ‘the worst thing that can happen to a parent’. In this narrative, most of the space to grieve is given to the parents of the child. Importantly, what is often absent in this narrative is the space for ‘the other children’. Siblings tend to be absent in this story, whereas they are also profoundly impacted by such losses. Rentzenbrink shows how people tended to ‘spare’ her parents or didn’t want to bother them with questions, whereas she was not given this privilege and had to field all of those inquiries. though the subject is heavy, the style isn’t. It is lucid and warm, and – in detailing Cathy’s path towards a successful, happy, fulfilled, if clouded life – feels strangely nourishing to read. Which you absolutely should. The book itself feels an act of love.” This was the 3rd non-fiction book I read from Cathy Rentzenbrink. It's a memoir, a book where she talks about her brother who at 16 was hit by a car and was left in a permanent vegetative state. We mark a year of your passing with the same feelings as every other day – sadness that you’re gone and wishing we could tell you one last time how much we care for you

The Last Act of Love | Wellcome Book Prize

Another year has gone since we lost you and still find myself inconsolable. I miss you terribly but will never forget your memory and your life

Themed Reading

Many siblings have relationships that are stronger and deeper than we might imagine. So when you lose a brother it can be absolutely devastating. The quotes and messages below will help to commemorate your brother and remember his legacy. I remember there being quite a lot of hype around when Cathy Rentzenbrink's memoir, The Last Act of Love, was published in 2015, and I have been keen to read it since. It is focused upon Rentzenbrink's relationship with her adored younger brother, Matty, and the aftereffects of a tragic accident he was involved in as a teenager. While animals are not thought to be self-aware or able to reflect on their own condition, and they cannot balance their suffering against time or pleasure or memories of better days, they are certainly sentient creatures capable of feeling physical and psychological pain. Yet, they are not in a position to make decisions about their own medical care. That responsibility falls on their owners. Reach out to someone mourning the loss of their sister or commemorate your own sisters amazing life amidst the pain of missing her with these death anniversary quotes and messages. Sadly missed along life’s way, quietly remembered every day. No longer in our life to share, but in our hearts, you’re always there