Some years back, I took my wife to see what turned out to be a really fascinating movie.

It was a Japanese film, which sort of meant it had to be something special for me to give it a go. I don't mind foreign language films, but generally I prefer languages with which I have some familiarity, languages that don't sound "wrong" to my ear. German, French, Spanish and Italian are fine, because I can recognize words from time to time. There's no chance of that happening with Asian languages, but I had heard that "After Life" was good and I wanted to see it.

[caption id="attachment_755" align="alignright" width="204" caption="After Life"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/MV5BMTQ4MTg3OTIwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg1MDIyMQ@@._V1._SY314_CR40214314_.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-755" title="MV5BMTQ4MTg3OTIwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg1MDIyMQ@@._V1._SY314_CR4,0,214,314_" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/MV5BMTQ4MTg3OTIwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg1MDIyMQ@@._V1._SY314_CR40214314_-204x300.jpg" alt="" width="204" height="300" /></a>[/caption]

The movie was based on an interesting premise of what heaven is.

The idea is that when you die, you go to a way station and speak with a counselor to pick the single best memory of your life. Once you decide, that ends up being the one thing you live over and over again until the end of time.

I can tell you that it would be a difficult choice, although I can say without hesitation that I would want it to be something that included my wife and my two children. It might be something as simple as Christmas Day 2009, a day that I spent with Nicole, with Pauline and Virgile and with their two spouses and my lovely little granddaughter Maddie.

It's tough to come up with many days that include all those people. The only other significant one I can remember is Virgile's wedding day, which was a lovely day also.

But I remember the scene in "Our Town," when Emily -- who has died -- goes back to see one day from her life. She is urged to pick a day that isn't particularly special, and she picks a winter morning in high school.

She is overwhelmed by it all and asks if any living people actually know how wonderful life is while they're living it. The answer comes to her. "A few of the saints, maybe."

[caption id="attachment_756" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Virgile and Maddie, Christmas 2009"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0156.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-756" title="DSC_0156" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_0156-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a>[/caption]

I have had so many wonderful things happen to me in my life, and I know some of them slipped by without my knowing just how special they were.

But I do understand, like Emily, that the truly memorable times aren't the big events. I've been to the Super Bowl, to the World Series and to two NCAA Final Fours. I've seen the Rolling Stones, Crosby Stills Nash &amp; Young and Bob Dylan in concert, among others.

I have been blessed with the love of an amazing woman and two incredible children, and it's those two children who fill me with more pride than I could ever have imagined feeling.

I have had wonderful friends, lifelong friends who have been better friends to me than I have been to them.

I have experienced an abundance of God's grace, and if I haven't always gotten everything I wanted, I have gotten far more than I deserve.

Life really is truly wonderful.