September 2, 2026

Doctors are trained to see death as the ultimate failure. Their role ends when the body stops. We’re taught to fight the one thing guaranteed to happen to every single one of us.

From my journal Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Dear Holy Spirit,
It is 4:10 am and I have been awake since 2:30; I am not sure what that is about but Jane called me about noon updating me that she was in the hospital with some kind of infection. Her husband is flying to Las Vegas so I will go to the hospital to be with her. (Inner writing below “D” is for Debra and “V” is for what I call inner voice.)

D: What would you have Jane know about the fear of death?
V: All fear is FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL.
D: How does she let go of that emotion?
V: When you see the sunshine the sun is no more real than in the middle of the darkest night.
D: The words in the song “I believe in the sun even when its not shining” come to my mind.
V: Yes, you believe in the sun even when its not shining because that is the truth. Knowing that your essence (your soul, your spirit) lives on even when you are not in body is just like believing in the sun even when its not shining. Jane was before she was in this body. Jane’s essence was not born and cannot die.

When I was awake and could not get back to sleep I listened to two of my usual fall-asleep guided audios, made warm almond milk, and read. Finally I did the draw-and-write therapy process I learned from a colleague. It was all about death and Jane’s desire to not be afraid. I sent her the words from Jarem Sawatsky’s Dancing with the Elephants: “Be not afraid…. I am not entitled to life without death. I embrace sacred life. I embrace sacred life. I embrace the growing and crumbling in between”.

I had gone to St. Joseph hospital in the morning to discover that Jane was in Niles! Jane’s grandson arrived before we had much chance to share. His mom was with him but could not come up (limit 2 visitors in ICU) so I offered to leave. Driving home I heard the inner voice telling me I did not need to worry about not having shared the therapy drawing and words with Jane, I needed it for myself.

Therapy writing words:
Be not afraid.
People do leave their bodies, but they do not leave their loved ones.
I believe in the sun even when its not shining.
Death is only a doorway.
Love is Eternal.
Unborn, undying, unafraid.
J-just
A-another
N-new
E-experience

When I stopped to see my sister on the way to visit Jane, I told Janis I had been awake and did the therapy writing. I also shared an attribution line “developed and produced by Debra Basham and Joel P. Bowman” did not get posted because of a 600 character limit when my guided imagery audios got posted on Spotify.

Visualize a tree moving through the seasons — turning red and gold in autumn, shedding its leaves in winter, growing new buds in spring, and showing its glorious greenery in summer. Change is opportunity…. This is the Nature Meditation cards we drew from the deck she had just gotten for me.

Shortly after I got home I received news that Joel had passed some time after midnight. I shuffle, shuffle, shuffle and draw that same card again!

I write on the flip side of my therapy drawing.

J-just
O-one
E-energy
L-LOVE

R.I.P.

12-4-1942 to 9-2-2026

FYI – I did R.I.P. with periods because it stands for a Latin phrase (requiescat in pace). Joel was a university professor and he would appreciate that.

So many lives made better because of our having shared this life!