Yesterday, I went to the funeral of the 91-year old mother of the university president. It was inspiring, as she was, and it made me think again about how motherhood is often a calling (she had six children and scores of grandchildren and great-grandchildren) as well as what an inspiration it was for her children when she received both a BA and MA in English (begun at the age of 58) and taught at the college level when they were all mostly grown.

Today, there was the funeral of the father of one of my students who died suddenly last Sunday at the age of 45, apparently of a heart attack. Today would have been the one-year wedding anniversary of him and his new wife. He left behind eight children - five his and three of his wife's, the youngest (of his) having just graduated from high school. I saw a picture of him, and he seemed to be quite overweight, which may have contributed to his heart attack. When asked what she would miss most about him, my student said, "The way he yelled at me."

Then, next week will be the funeral of a 73-year old man who died at General Assembly doing what he said he loved most, "serving the church." He actually seemed to have said to the committee he was assigned to, "If I die tomorrow I would die a happy man because I died doing what I love most."

All of this has made me think, what would folks say about me?