My dear friend, Katie Ortlip—or Katie O—as she is called by her patients, is a social worker and registered nurse who has worked for hospice for 25 years. Over the years, I have heard Katie come home from work and exclaim, “Today was a great death.” Of course, I wanted to know what makes a great death, so one day I asked. “Most people," she explained, “want to spend their last days at home, in their own bed, surrounded by loved ones. They really just want to close their eyes and go to sleep.” That sounded much better than ending up in a hospital on life-support. Creating the possibility of a good death actually takes planning, for patients and the caregivers. At this moment in the U.S., nearly 10 million people over the age of 50 are caregivers for a parent or loved one. They are often overwhelmed trying to handle health emergencies, confusing legal matters, and prepare for the worst, while trying to live their own lives. I asked if there was an all-inclusive manual that could help caregivers and patients. Katie said there wasn’t and confided that she’d always wanted to write a sort of “Death for Dummies” guidebook, because it was sorely needed by her patients and their families. Being a writer, I said, “Let’s do it together.” It was at this time that my 90-year-old father was told his long-dormant prostate cancer had spread to his bones. I became his caregiver, Katie became his hospice social worker, and our writing journey began.