WNBA legend Sylvia Fowles looks forward to life as a mortician after basketball

She is named Sylvia Fowler. Even though it's glowing.

She wants me to know that she isn't afraid of the topic. We are discussing death and reincarnation. She enjoys thinking about the future and unknown. She likes it more than the past.

Fowles believes in reincarnation. I would like to return as an animal. Either a bird or an animal. I would really like that.

I greet everyone with a hug when I meet them. I've come to Minneapolis to ask Fowles about her impending retirement, about the curtain falling on one of the greatest careers in NBA history, but I quickly realize it doesn't interest her at all. Every time I try to bring up one of her accomplishments, the center cringes in her chair and says, "I don't want to talk about that." She would rather do everything else. Including her love of knitting, her road to understanding her own mental health, and her future career as amortician. That's right, mortuary.

"My life is not about sports." It is something I do.

We are sitting across from each other at a table in a restaurant. We just visited a community garden and saw food being served. She planted some beets in the garden that was dedicated to her in honor of "Syl's Final Ride." The greatest rebounder in the history of women's basketball knows the clock is running out but the celebration of her career is making her uncomfortable.

I was hesitant about going on a tour. I didn't want you to force people to pay attention to me. Real fans appreciate what I've done. Allowing people to appreciate you is not a bad thing. I don't think it's right.

One of Fowles' loves is basketball. She conceded as much as she could. She has always had a connection to people and her passport. The camaraderie of a locker room is something she loves. She traded away a lot of her personal life to pursue her dream.

She thinks she hasn't been back to Miami since she was a teenager. She doesn't know who her oldest nephew is. While she was gone, they grew up and became adults. She is a Great Auntie because she has a child. She was pulled away from another tournament or opportunity to play overseas. She wants to start her own family. When she was 30, she had her eggs frozen. Teammates and friends have joked for years that she should be called Mama Syl because she has been such a warm, mothering presence to everyone, but now she wants to make it a reality.

At the end of the day, I would love to have those moments back, but I'm grateful for every basketball opportunity I've had. Birthdays, holidays, graduations, weddings, and all these things are missed. I'm ready to do the things I haven't done in a long time.

She doesn't know what it will mean when basketball is done. She asked when the story would run. When I tell her that it won't be published until the last week of the season, she whips out her phone and smiles. She showed me a picture of two dozen hats she has knitted, one for each of her teammates. She's going to give them as a farewell gift, but they're just one of many. She has been preparing for a long time.

"I've knitted a lot of beanies in the last few months, it's not funny," Fowles said. I have baskets for everyone. I have plants and mugs for the coaches. I would like to say thank you in a way that is meaningful to me.

The Lynx have been ravaged by injuries all season, but have gone 11-7 since the beginning of the year, and could make the playoffs with a strong final weekend. She has been hobbled by a sore knee and has been wearing a walking boot on off days to combat her pain. She apologized for limping so slowly as she made her way into the restaurant after wearing it during our interview. Despite the injuries, Fowles still ranked among the best players in the league in scoring and rebound. She provided a blissful, viral moment when she stole a pass on the perimeter, dribbled the length of the court and dunked on a fast break during the All-Star game. Her teammates' eruption of joy felt like a testament to how much the league will miss her.

"Syl is so much bigger than basketball that it feels like a disservice to speak to just the basketball," Achonwa said. She is such a bright light and it doesn't matter what is going on. She taught me to always see the good in people and the light. Basketball players and Black women go through a lot. Sylvia believes in seeing the good in people.

Minnesota will host the Seattle Storm and the Connecticut Sun in its final two home games. The retirement of Sue Bird, the league's all-time assists leader, has grabbed most of the attention, but Sylvia Fowles, the league's all-time leading scorer, has been equally important.

She will finish her career as one of the top 10 scorers in league history. The last home game will be messy. I will let myself feel what I want. I'll cry if I want to. I'll laugh if I want to. I'll be sad if I want to be sad. I'm not giving up.

She acknowledges that she is grieving the end of her career This is the way we end up talking about death. She doesn't want to be laid to rest. She would like to be cremated and her ashes scattered around the world.

She says that everyone should talk about it. People are scared of death because they don't have enough education.

For the past seven years, Fowles has been studying mortuary science and working part time in funeral homes in Minneapolis and Miami as a way to transition into her next career: mortuaryician.

"My mom would look at me and be like: 'Why are you so weird?' I just told her, 'Mom, I don't want to play tag. I want to play funeral.'" Sylvia Fowles

The human body is interesting. One of the most fascinating things is to see the fluid push out the blood from the arteries when it's open. You can read about it in a book but you can't see it.

A future Naismith Hall of Famer delicately draining dead bodies of fluids, dressing and prepping them, comforting families through their worst moments is almost impossible to comprehend. In a room full of corpses, Fowles is as calm as she is playing in front of fans. While I've heard hundreds of stories about athletes reinventing themselves in retirement, searching to find something to replace the role sports played in their lives, Fowles is the first athlete I've ever met who felt a pull to work on corpses

I'm curious as to what's going on.

"I have been fascinated with death as far back as I can remember." I was interested in it as a child. When we leave here, where are we going? What will happen to you when you die? Americans don't talk much about it. Everyone has a plan for when they die when I go to Europe. It's not closed. I would like to be an advocate for it.

Fowles was the youngest of five children. If they would help her stage mock funerals for her stuffed animals, she would play house, pretend to make meals and do the dishes. Arrittio watched her daughter's funeral with mixed feelings.

It used to make my mom crazy. She couldn't understand why. I would put my stuffed animals on a bench in the middle of the room and say "We're having a funeral" My mom would ask why I was weird. I told her that I did not want to play tag. I would like to play funeral.

When Sylvia was 5 years old, she lost her grandmother, and that was the moment that made her realize how much she cared for the dead. Thirty-one years later, certain details of her life still remain vivid. She was very aggressive. She was fond of cooking. She had long gray hair. We would always get money from her to go to the store. She was laughing at her own jokes. She made everyone share. She was like that kind of grandma.

The family of Fowles wanted an open casket for their loved one. She kissed her grandmother on the forehead as she walked to the front of the room. After a few minutes, her lips started to swell. owles thinks she had an allergic reaction to the embalming fluid She began to believe her grandmother was in pain. She thought someone must have messed up at the funeral home. She told her mother that she was going to become a mortuary assistant. She wanted to make sure people didn't suffer after their deaths.

I told her I wanted to go to school for mortuary science, years later. She asked if he still wanted to do that. I didn't think you were joking. "I thought it was a phase. I want to do this.

Basketball became a vehicle to travel the world and her fascination with death continued as she got older. During her time in Turkey, she realized that Americans didn't see death in a good way.

"I was fascinated by how they still do things like they did in medieval times." They don't really do much else besides wash the body. The caskets they have are not made of metal. The body is wrapped. I thought that was the least complicated thing. We go to extreme measures. They are more like celebrations. People don't cry and mourn. It is more like "We're going to a better place."

I wanted to know what she wanted her funeral to be like.

"It's definitely a celebration," Fowles said, laughing. A small amount of dancing and singing. I want them to have fun. I want it to be positive.

Fowles has always been something of an iconoclast. She didn't like attention because it made her uncomfortable. An All-American who led LSU to four straight Final Fours, she was drafted second overall by the Chicago Sky in 2008 and went on to become one of the premier post players in the WNBA over the next seven seasons. She was able to swat shots into the first row of the stands when someone drove the lane.

She was named the defensive player of the year in 2011. She helped the US win gold in Beijing and London.

It wasn't until 2015 that she realized that she wasn't happy with the awards she received. The Sky, who drafted Elena Delle Donne second overall, appeared to be on the verge of something special. The Sky held her rights even though her contract was up. She asked to be traded. She decided to sit out the season when the Sky refused to allow her to play.

The Sky relented after she showed she wasn't going to sit out the first 17 games. It was an important moment for players in the league. The same season, the Lynx won a title.

It felt like Syl 2.0. I felt different when I moved to Minnesota.

The one Fowles cherishes the most will be the one that goes down as the best. After winning her third gold medal in Rio, Sylvia Fowles was named the most valuable player of the year in the Women's Basketball Association. She is proudest of her willingness to address something she has never discussed before. She sought treatment for depression.

Everyone has a point. You need to discuss certain things at some point. I stepped outside of my comfort zone and realized that mental health is a reality. I need to speak to someone. I realized that you have nothing to be embarrassed of. Some people are struggling. Depression isn't fake. You don't have time to relax as an elite athlete. People don't think of mental health as a big problem. We are getting to the point where we can understand how outside things can affect us. You might be having a bad week, a bad practice, and then you read about killings and shootings in the news, and that can affect you as well. I was growing a lot during that time. I would have to relive it. I'd do it. I am able to survive a lot of things.

It's hard for people to say how much the league has changed since she joined. Part of the story is told by statistics. The three teams that averaged 80 possessions per 40 minutes were rookies. This year, 10 of the 12 teams have a chance to surpass that mark. The average number of 3-pointers per game in 2008 was 15.6. The average is 22.4. The all-WNBA teams will go to a positionless format next season. "Everyone is running fast and jumping high," says Fowles, who made the only 3-pointer she ever took back in 2010 The pace has increased. There may not be a place for post-up players like Fowles in the future.

She will be one of the last dominant 5s according to Rachel Banham. She could score in the paint and not be hit with a 3. You are stacking 3s every night. She's a true traditional big, scoring from 1 to 5 feet at a 70% clip, and I don't think we'll see that again. That is very special.

One might think that Fowles views the league's evolution through a different point of view.

She says she likes the way we're building things up, whether it's through equal pay, social justice, or standing up for different organizations. I like that part. We have the ability to speak on a variety of topics. I'm anticipating what it will look like over the next couple years.

When she first started working in funeral homes, she didn't know how much of her time should be shared with her teammates. She didn't want people to be uncomfortable. She was happy to answer questions when she heard about it. It didn't surprise many players when Sylvia explained why she cared about it.

Banham says that you need to be a specific kind of person to be in those situations. I wouldn't be able to sleep all the time. Syl is capable of making people feel loved. You need that when you go through losses.

She would be content just preparing bodies for showings if she had her own funeral home. She doesn't run a business but is interested in the art. She works with a lot of men. The business is a man-driven one. It's so delicate with me. They always say "Oh we don't want you to lift this body" You're not able to do that.

She smiles and rolls her eyes. It's rare when she wants to talk about her basketball career as a way of explaining how tough she is. When I ask her what mortuary science is all about, she says it's a story.

She had a client who was entirely her responsibility because of the hours she had worked in her internship. She was the first person to fly alone. The client was from a place in the Caribbean and his family were going to his funeral. He was so nervous that he didn't know what to make of his appearance. You have a lot of things to do. You have to groom him, dress him, put him in the casket, and build tissue. I was putting the finishing touches on his suit when his mother showed up. She spoke a Caribbean language. She began to cry. I wanted to know if everything was okay. I don't know if I did anything wrong.

The woman denied. He resembles himself. I'm very pleased.

That's the feeling I'm looking for. You can make a lot of people happy by making them see their loved ones in the right way.

It can be an act of love to say goodbye.