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Opinion: Talking about advance directives is a perfect holiday conversation

Don't wait until death is near to understand what your last wishes are. There's no time like the holidays to talk about what you and family members want the end…
Source: Michael Heiman/Getty Images

Until Louisa’s accident, you could almost always find her working in her garden, pulling weeds, deadheading old blossoms, coaxing tomato vines up their stakes. Well into her 80s, she still made a full midday meal every Sunday for her family and an ever-shifting gaggle of neighbors, grandchildren, and friends — basically anyone who showed up hungry.

As vigorous as Louisa was, when she stumbled and fell earlier this fall, it changed everything. Landing awkwardly on the hard ground, her skull hit a paving stone, causing bleeding inside her brain that led to immediate unconsciousness. After Louisa was rushed to the

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