Sun attended her first funeral today. I seem to attend a lot of funerals. And I have certainly been touched by many deaths this year (four, if you are keeping count). This funeral was particularly sad — it was the son of a friend of mine that committed suicide. He was 28 years old and left a five-month old baby boy.

The funeral was just out of the city (in LaPlace, LA), and I took the “scenic route” home–Airline Highway instead of the Interstate. After passing the site of Shell’s refinery that was belching filth into the sky (to quote “The Police”), I did pass the bucolic scene of a marshy area that had cows grazing in a field with egrets on their backs. Really. Egrets on the backs of grazing cows.

And as solemn songs of Bob Dylan and Daniel Lanois wafted in my ears, I took stock of my life. This is what going to a funeral does to me — it makes me take scenic routes and muse about the value of my own life. And today its value is quite high. Sun alone gives my life new value. But in addition to that, my work life is healthy, my marriage is solid, my love for knitting has been rekindled, and I started back with Yoga today.

I want for nothing. If only I could carry with me this high-valued feeling of my life all the time without having to go to someone’s funeral to trigger it, I’d have it all.