Last week I was in Helsinki energized by a dozen friends old and new. My expertise was valued and expanded. The weather inside and outside was fantastic. I felt blessed among men.

All the business and study and friendship there comes second to intimate emergency; the things with which we fill our days diminish as we face life's largest tasks, passage. I learned that in part from two quotes.

I've spent the last five days in and out of a hospital. There are people there welcoming babies, often smiling ear to ear and bearing presents. There are people there watching family members struggle with sickness; they smile to put a good face on things and to comfort the healthy. As Jane wrote, we are among the latter.