As I stared at a Halloween-like picture of my own skull, including gaping eye and nose sockets, I shivered, shocked by the no-nonsense view of what lay beneath my skin.

A dental technician convinced me to get a panoramic X-ray that included my whole head. She took the X-ray, then kept the image displayed above me when she left the room. The panoramic aspect of the shot had distorted my mouth into a wide, toothy grin. I felt as if this future iteration of me carried a message: “Hello dearie, this is where you are headed.”

Squirming in the dentist’s chair, I thought about the other times I’d come face to face with my own mortality. I’ve had two near-death experiences (NDEs), although I wouldn’t have known to categorize them that way when each happened. The occurrences had distinctly differ

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