Natalie Krawczyk describes herself as an optimistic person, someone who looks for the best in everyone and everything. She loves spending time with her kids and grandkids. Some of her favorite moments are the breakfasts she shares with her 23-year-old-grandaughter, who lives in the apartment above hers in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood.
Krawczyk says, as a woman who likes to be prepared, she’s also thought often about death, and how her family will remember her.
“I’ve been incredibly healthy all my life, and about two years ago I ended up in the hospital for nine days and what happened is, they all got scared to death because they’ve never seen their mom sick,” says Krawczyk. “It prompted me to say ‘Hey, I may have been healthy all my life but wait a minute. We need to start thinking about the fact that I may not be here for the next 20 years.’”
Beginning to plan the end
After she recovered, Krawczyk began looking for resources to prepare for the end of her life, whenever that comes. She found a web post on local end-of-life doulas and Death Cafes. Those are gatherings of people who want to talk about grief, death and dying in a supportive space…