Yizkor - Are We Ever Too Old for This Homework?

This morning I plan to attend the Yizkor service to pay a mindful tribute to Jill Bernstein (my sister-in-law) who passed away in June from breast cancer, and to Dalia Leibowitz, my friend and a teacher in our school for over 15 years, who passed away in September from kidney cancer.  I hope to not "be" depressed, although I'm sure the service will raise depressing thoughts about not only Jill and Dalia, but also my friend Jill who died a year ago September from cancer, and my mother, who died in 2008 from lung disease. 

It's a sad service (as its name implies, Yizkor, meaning will remember, in which we are supposed to remember those who have gone) but it can be very uplifting as well.  I hope to leave it with a renewed determination to live my life in a way that makes Jill, Dalia, Jill, Mom, my grandparents, and a little boy I never met, Sam Sommer who died in December from cancer, somehow proud.  It's a huge job, and I'm not sure why we as Jews take on such an enormous "homework assignment" every day - to live like you are THE ONE who helps keep things going well here on earth while you're able.

Why would I voluntarily get all cleaned up to go to the synagogue on a day when I don't have to?  To remember, and to get a reminder about my homework. I doubt I'll get it all done by bedtime, but I hope to have many more days to polish my final draft.