I've mentioned The Immortals a couple of times on LJ, and I found a lot of meaning in the way the characters dealt with their imminent death-to do things for others to remember them...writing personal biographies, stories, music, letters to loved ones, and so forth. It sounds cliche, I know, but I've thought of it often.

As for my own upbringing with death...I didn't realize until I was 30 that the way my family dealt dying was really abnormal. Let's leave it at that.