Life is filled with happy moments and celebrations, but, sometimes, we also experience some sad moments, moments we do not necessarily want to celebrate or even remember.
I experienced such a moment this past weekend, when I received the news that my grandmother has passed away quietly during the night. And, even though I was very sad about the news, I comforted myself with the fact that she was almost 94 years old and had lived a full life, having had the privilege of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren as part of it, filling her days with love, care and laughter. It also helped me to know that I’d had the opportunity to get to know my grandmother while I was growing up, and that I knew she was well cared for before her passing.
And, as I sat and thought about my grandmother, I could not help but think about death and how it does not ask permission before it strikes. Yes, death is inevitable for all of us, but we do not always have the luxury of having that opportunity to say goodbye to a loved one, or to know exactly what happened to help us make peace with it.
It was with a heavy heart that I though about the mother, father, sister and friends of a young boy who had no chance of saying goodbye before he was cruelly ripped from their lives by an undetected illness. I could also not help but think about a mother and grandmother, who had to, together with other friends and family members, accept the fact that they will never see their three-year-old son and and grandson ever again, even though they will never know exactly what happened to him, or have the opportunity to say a proper goodbye.
This made me think of something I’d read. It said, “Don’t ever save something for a special occasion – being alive is the special occasion.”
Life is too short, and tomorrow is not guaranteed, make sure your loved ones know how you feel about them. Don’t wait for tomorrow; pick up the phone and tell them how much you love and cherish them today. Make time to visit and spend some quality time with them, because tomorrow might just be too late. Don’t spend the rest of your life with regrets.
Until next week…
