Hug Them, Kiss Them, Tell Them You Love Them...NOW!

This is not the blog I was going to write. I was going to write about working in multi-generational workplaces but then the call came. It wasn't at 3 a.m., but it might as well have been. My friend's daughter... in her early 30s, a ob/gyn doctor....model gorgeous...is dead. How can that be? I remember the joy on her amazing face as she grabbed her diploma and they called her "Doctor." The baby girl had grown up into a woman ready to take on the world. And now she's dead. 

Many years ago I was teaching a class for women who were going back into the paid workforce. One woman had lost her beloved husband a mere month before entering our workshop. They had been married for ten years, worked together, played together, had a perfect life. Then on Christmas eve, he got up from his chair to walk over to her and dropped dead. He was 39. When I met her she was joyful, upbeat and always laughing. My colleague and I couldn't believe it. W here was her grief? I asked and what she told me was life changing. "Nothing was left undone. When we argued we argued but then we got over it. We told each other we loved each other, we played, we enjoyed each other. When we were together we were together.  Would I like more time with him?  Of course! But there was nothing undone so I have no regrets. I don't think...if only we had. If only I hadn't..I wish I could..." 

My kids and friends sometimes think I'm nuts because I tell them I love them all the time. I hug every chance I get. But events like today's convince me how important those hugs and love are. What if this really is the last time you ever see or speak to that person? Is the conversation or interaction you just had the one you want to be the last one ever? Will you live with guilt or regret for the rest of your life because you were angry or said something hurtful...and now it's too late? 

We never think,  "Today's the last day." We always think we have tomorrow or next week or next year. We think we'll punish them just a bit longer. "They'll be sorry. They'll come crawling back." Or we'll get another chance to make it up to them.  But sometimes we don't.  The car crashes, the heart stops, the unthinkable happens.  And for the rest of our lives we think..."if only..." 

Don't let that happen to you. Find the people you love, you admire, even those you just like a lot...and let them know.  Hug them, kiss them, tell them how much they mean to you, how much you love them.  Do it and do it now. You never know what you'll learn from the next phone call.