Some time back, I attended a friend’s milestone birthday party where many of her friends, including myself, spoke about her.
Basically what they said was what she meant to them, some went down nostalgia lane remembering incidents where they had done things together and so on. Then of course, there were her children and grandchildren who made it more meaningful by sharing some snippets about her , along with many aspects of her personality that many people at that lunch may not have known at all.
After all these had been said, she herself took centre stage and conveyed her thoughts . What she said was something I will always remember. The essence of it was simply
"I'm so grateful to all of you for being here today. I’m even more grateful to have been able to hear all that you feel about me . Most people are not half as lucky because all these things are only spoken about when they are no more- at their Memorial .
Which simply means that they would never have had the opportunity of hearing what was said by people who had gathered there to say their goodbyes."
( Image sourced from the net)
That set me thinking. And I couldn’t help but remember my father’s Memorial where so many people shared so many wonderful stories and insights about him. I also thought about all the memorial meetings that I have attended recently and all that I heard about people who are no longer on this earth. Wouldn’t they have loved to hear what was said?
And so I concluded, it is so much more important to share one’s thoughts about how we feel about friends, relatives and those who matter, while they are still around. Tell them what and how much they mean to you. Tell them what you enjoyed doing together, how much a particular gesture or that lovely dish they made or sent across to you meant to you.
Along with a hundred other things…
That way you will never regret what you never said. Words and thoughts that should have been spoken but never were..
Do it regularly, do it today.
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