This evening I went to the visitation of a retired professor from the college where I work. He taught psychology, and I actually took his class when I was a student there a lifetime ago. He was a guy who always wore a smile. His death was a bit unexpected, although he hadn’t been in the best of health in recent years. Apparently he died of cardiac arrest in his sleep and I hope his passing was quick and peaceful. That’s how I’d wish everyone could go…silently moving beyond this life and into what’s beyond without interruption. A friend, who also knew him as a teacher and his colleague, said he once told her he had been witness to the messy emotional events that are both the start and end of life (his children’s births and his wife’s death) and that we were lucky to have everything in between. How true. I’m thankful today for having crossed paths with this man and his wisdom and for the in-between I’m still experiencing.