Life is no respecter of consistency; it brings tears and laughter alike. Often within minutes of each other. As my friend Mary White is releasing her tenuous hold on life, my dear husband Ed is exploding into laughter at something I said. Life and death. Different sides of the same coin. We were born to hold such paradox within our hearts. But is it really paradox? Or is it simply "what is." The wonder of being human, of being alive. Death is just another face of life, just as tears are another manifestation of laughter. All of a piece. Everything in balance. An integrated whole.