Funerals have a way of stopping you up short. I can think of few other events that have such an ability to make one pause and reflect on the important things in life. I'm not one of those who get morbid when someone dies, but I do find myself more contemplative, and more so as I get older. Of course the mere fact of getting older brings the inevitable end of life closer than it seemed when I was in the first third of life feeling very much immortal as most of us do.

During that first part of life, I didn