During my fellowship in palliative medicine, I have learned the value of home visits. I learn more about my patients’ lives in two minutes of seeing their homes than I could in a lifetime of clinic visits. During home visits, I get to pet dogs, touch quilts, study photos, and admire charming heirlooms that would fetch only a few dollars in a garage sale, but that in these homes are …
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At age 18, my buddy David and I scaled the outside stucco of a hotel in Cancun, Mexico, and soon found ourselves ten stories up, lying on our backs on the hotel roof, looking at the night sky. It was a terribly stupid idea—one of many we had back in those days. But once we were up there, David taught me the major stars and constellations of the summer sky: …
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Whitewater paddlers make it look easy—staying upright in raging waters, navigating huge swells, and leaning and cutting at the right time to avoid dangerous obstacles. And when they do flip upside down, they can pop themselves right back up. It’s a marvel. But no matter how expertly they paddle, they always have to respect the power of the water. They can make careless and costly mistakes when they let their …
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