How Do You Sum Up a Life?

A funeral for a friend not much older than you is a good occasion to review your life's direction.

Wausau, WI—This town of about 40,000 people in central Wisconsin seems not much different than the town where I grew up in central Ontario. The people are friendly, the pace of life is slower than in the big city, and everything is effortlessly “authentic,” without having to spend exorbitant amounts to appear so. Unfortunately, the reason I find myself in this bucolic burb is the celebration of the life of a friend I’d known for nearly two decades and who wasn’t that much older than me.