http://m.dailygood.org/story/2236/the-joy-of-being-a-woman-in-her-seventies-mary-pipher/. Yessterday was the funeral for a friend. She and I and five others in our local social group reached 75 this year. She found out 3 months ago that her days were incurably numbered. She prepared for yesterday in extensive detail and spent all her remaining time loving being near her family. In the one conversation I had with her she shared that she was at peace with deeply acknowledging that the upcoming final moment is a natural conclusion, from which she was not exempt. She also said that each day of decline was presenting a new challenge for her to embrace. She said she was grateful for these challenges which gave her an opportunity to ask her resilience to support her. I imagine that she, a long time 5th grade teacher, did not pass up one opportunity to role model and share her perspective with her family as they remained close to her. The happiness that she brought to their lives and ours reigned throughout yesterday's celebration of Beverly Phillip's life now completed.