1. The Grief and Mourning Quiz

Medical Author:

Lynn Barkley Burnett, EdD, MS, LLB

Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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What can we learn when the death of someone we love brings us face to face with our own mortality?

Gandhi advised us to "live as if you were to die tomorrow." In like manner, Christian Furchtegott Gellert said, "Live as you will have wished to have lived when you are dying."

• How differently would you live your life if you knew that tomorrow would be your last day on the face of the earth?
• What would you make sure you said? To whom would you have said it? Who would you make sure to call, write, or see?
• What would you have wanted to do?

Because no one knows the rate at which the grains of sand are falling through the hourglass of life, it makes sense -- each day -- to do and say those things that we would have wished we had done when our "appointed time" comes.

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