My mom died in 2008 at the age of 78 of lung cancer. All of my brothers and I gathered at her bedside on what seemed likely to be the last time we would all be with her. As we stood by her bed, she was so weak, she could barely speak. In a raspy and rattling breath, she whispered to the four of us: ‘Come closer, I have something important to tell you.’ We all drew closer and leaned in, in order to better hear her important last words to us all. And then she passed with a smile on her face.