Nothing Left Unsaid: Creating a Healing Legacy with Final Words and Letters

With the last will and testament, our culture has a way to settle estates and material possessions. But we don't have a ritual for bequeathing messages of love, forgiveness, life lessons, hope, and personal legacy. Now, Nothing Left Unsaid is the first-ever nondenominational guide -- at once practical and inspiring -- that shows how to craft "Final Words," a last communication to leave behind for a spouse, parent, friend, son, daughter, or grandchildren. These final healing words offer our survivors a sense of tangible closure -- whether in the event of a sudden death, terminal illness, or the end of a long and well-lived life. Legacy Letters similarly provide a way to express sentiments to loved ones as they approach the end of their lives. Both legacies ensure that nothing is left unsaid.

Mary Polce-Lynch, PhD, is assistant director of the Counseling Center at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, VA, where she is also assistant professor of psychology. The author of Boy Talk: How You Can Help Your Son Express His Emotions, she has more than twenty years of experience as a developmental psychologist, licensed professional counselor and certified school psychologist. She lives with her family in Ashland, VA.