Be the Noodle: Fifty Ways to Be a Compassionate, Courageous, Crazy-Good Caregiver Lois Kelly Author

I wrote this book to share my experiences helping my mother die in hopes that more people might find the courage, love and sick humor to be fully present with the person they love during the end of life. To make a sad part of life, a treasured part of life. I am so humbled and joyful knowing that this little book has done just that for many. I am also grateful that people have been kind enough to tell me how the book affected their lives. One of my favorite stories came from a family in Alabama. My niece gave Be the Noodle to her college friend Kelli whose father was dying. Kelli was at school miles away from home, sick with worry about her terminally ill father. Kelli read Be the Noodle and sent it to her mother. Then her mother called and said, Come home. A few months later Kelli's mother wrote to me, I had no intention of sharing with Kelli or her brother the last 15 days when the dying had begun. My husband and I did not want those memories to be our children's last memories of their father. But when Kelly read Be the Noodle and told me about it, it allowed me to share with her the most agonizing, poignant, intimate, and life-changing experience of our lives. Thank you for helping us remember my husband's final days not with agony and heart break but as his caregiver, the 'most courageous, inspiring and rewarding job I never wanted.' I hope that some of the 50 lessons in this book help you navigate the adventure of dying, and find small joys and new sources of love in those difficult days. With gratitude, Lois Kelly PS - Please consider passing the book along to someone who has entered the caregiver journey. They will appreciate it much more than a banana bread or casserole.