My Wise Words interview today is with Mary Fairhurst, a Washington state Supreme Court justice, who talked so openly about living with cancer that could kill her sooner rather than later.

She's realistic that she might have less than a year to live while at the same time, she's optimistic that she'll beat this cancer.

Thank you, Mary, for being so open in our interview. Your words will help others today and in the future.

(About the photo: For Mary's 54th birthday last summer, 700 of her friends and family gathered at a Mariners game, where she threw out the pitch, helped by her “crush” — the Mariner Moose. Photo courtesy of Mary Fairhurst)

I spent much of today at the Hospice Foundation of America's annual bereavement teleconference.

The theme: “Living with grief: spirituality and end-of-life care.” It was a great conference and I'll be blogging about it all week.

The conference, shown nationally today to groups gathered throughout the country, featured a handful of hospice programs.

Within the first few minutes, a segment featured Hospice House in Spokane. Claps and oohs erupted in the Lincoln Center where Spokane folks were watching the national program.

The segment showed Sheryll Shepard, a Hospice of Spokane chaplain, and former intern, Erin Raska, (now a Presbyterian minister) visiting a dying woman named Freddie.

They spoke with her about spirituality. Mostly, they listened. And everyone had a laugh when Freddie said she was OK with God but maybe not for long because he didn't seem to be on her same timetable in terms of death. I interpreted it to mean she was ready but maybe God had other plans.

(Spokesman-Review Archive photo)