I stumbled across my obituary recently. Well, it wasn't mine exactly. Still, it was a little eerie reading about this other Brian Hicks, born in April and an avid reader and a writer — just like me. He was a brother, uncle, even had a career in sales — just like me. He was obviously dearly loved — just like I hope to be.

But he was five years younger. That's obviously way too soon, and it got me thinking: If I left this life today, what would my obituary say? What about yours? I know very little about anything, but this I do know: Your obituary is going to get written one day. And if you're like me, you're still vain enough to want to ensure your family doesn't have to lie to make you look good.

But that's harder than it sounds.