“Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? If so, then you know you can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day
We have all been there. The times when your world just got pushed out of whack with the news that someone you love, someone close to you, has just passed from this life onto the next. Now, I totally believe that there is a life after this one...whether that is Heaven, Hell, the Seven Layers that Dante discussed, or something greater....I can't see our existences just stopping.
But that doesn't make it any easier.
The past week or so has been filled with contemplation about death for me. Family members are really sick and in the hospital, grandparents are failing in their aging years, and friends' family members are being relieved of the pain of the cancer and illnesses that wrack their bodies.
This life is so short...cliche, yes, but true. I look back at the times where I have lost a friend or loved one and I wonder what I would have done differently. Would I have spent more time with them? Would I have said "I love you" more often, and showed them how much they meant to me? I don't have many regrets---but the ones I do have come from the fact that I failed to show how much someone meant to me.
Don't do the same thing. This life is truly short and we never know when we will be passing on (and if you do, lucky you!), and we don't know when those we love will be taken from us.
Knowing this, I spend a lot more time looking at the world around me. I am surrounded by gorgeous mountains, a valley filled with such diversity that it is almost breathtaking, and a sky that can be beautiful when cloudy or clear. I cherish the little time I have with family and friends more, and I try to make each interaction meaningful in some way.
It only takes a second to lose someone. How will you spend that last second with them?
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