06/06/2026
So true. I’ve learned from loss to not put off. And also to take nothing for granted. This moment now is all we really know that we have. Let people know that you love and appreciate them while they are here. Don’t wait. I try to live as if my last phone call, visit, hug, interaction could be the last one. We really never know when it will be our last opportunity.
As a grief specialist so many of my clients have shared with me over the years that if only they had known that was going to be their last car ride, phone call, hug or visit with their loved one, they would have or may have said or done things so differently. Sometimes grievers will say they wish they had been more present, more patient, more loving, more expressive. I have seen grievers take that regret and decide to live their lives differently. To be more intentional with people around them.
A bereaved dad shared with me days after his daughter was killed in a car crash that he had so much pain and regret over never telling his young adult daughter how much he appreciated her. He said his last words were inquiring about her grades for her last college semester, but not saying he loved and appreciated her. He told me he always told his coworkers he appreciated them but not his own family members or friends. He paused with tears steaming down his cheeks and declared that from this moment on he would tell people how much he loved and appreciated them, in memory of his daughter. “I can’t change my last conversation with her, but I can change future conversations with my son and wife and others who I love and care about,” he said. “That may help me with my regrets.”
