It is the bittersweet embrace of love and loss that sharpens our appreciation for those we love. Staying open to this vulnerable truth is challenging, especially in a culture that keeps pushing grief to the margins. Sometimes, however, we cannot deny this guest at the door. I

It was a fractious meeting. Nothing exposes the seams of a group faster than the fraught world of care. More than death, care reveals too much about a personality to ever be discussed neutrally. Vaccines, palliative care, capacity to consent to treatment, what constituted serious illness, the use and abuse of a taxpayer-funded system: try them on a