May I Walk You Home?

by: Melody Rossi

Published by: Bethany House

Reviewed by Patty Inglish

Subtitled: Sharing Christ's Love With the Dying

Melody Rossi is an opera singer who has performed at the Vatican, but she shares the trials of her life to illustrate the unrealized possibilities in our own.

If we feel inadequate to walk someone through death, we can know that our tools will appear in our hands before our first footstep tracks in the dust. God equips the ones He chooses, and while His ways are not our ways, they work. A relative, friend, or acquaintance near death may be anxious about what's on the other side, but a Christian can crack that doorway and open the windows of Heaven with a small kindness.

Professionals help us into the world and somebody should help us out. At the final transition, professionals tend to watch the life monitors and leave us alone, but shouldn't there be a guide to help us find the way if we are not sure where we are going?

The poet writes, "Do not go gentle into that good night!"--If it's so good, what's the fight about?

Melody writes that as we serve the dying, our own lives enlarge. Walking with them may be difficult, but uplifting. Survival is natural, but there is peace in going prepared. Opera performs the truths of the centuries in music, and "passing over" is inherent in its stories. Bringing the traveler home to God by the music of Christ's love that is Joy is a blessing for both the sojourner and the guide.

What better name than Melody to teach this vocation?

I liked this book, because the author uses real-life experiences with her parents and a stepparent through their dying months. She gives a candid portrayal of herself, accepting the tools of the journey after she has walked into it feeling unequipped. She writes about forming a support team that can help with prayer and practical duties as one walks with a dying person; and includes checklists and suggestions, poignant quotations, scripture, song lyrics, and her heart and belief.

This book will uplift anyone curious about transitioning out of this life. Teens and middle-schoolers need to be able to discuss it with a caring adult.

Armchair Interviews: A look at life's transitions.