IF YOU LOVE THEM TELL SO

For the third time in less than a month someone I know has buried an adult child who died way too young. The most recent, and the most personal, was my nephew Matt Den Bleyker, who passed away suddenly from a chronic illness, at the tender age of just 25.

Matt Den Bleyker (1986-2012) and Bella

Too often our hectic and rushed lives make talking with friends and loved ones a hurried affair. Phone calls are brief, letter writing is a lost art, emails can be impersonal, and text messages are restricted to just 140 characters. It's worth stopping for a moment and thinking about that.  If there's someone you care about, let them know. No one ever says "I told him/her that I loved them too many times."  More commonly, people wish they had just one more chance to let the deceased know how much they cared. We often get caught up in the things of everyday life and put off meeting or calling those closest to us, with the best of intentions that "I'll do it tomorrow."  So if you love someone, tell them.  That goes double for the men who say "me too" on the phone when whomever they are talking to tells them they love them.  Do you think anyone overhearing that doesn't know what's being  said?

While I am an atheist and hold no religious or spiritual beliefs, I've always been impressed by the truth of a passage in the Hindu religious epic The Mahabarata, which goes

"Question: And what is the greatest mystery of all?

Answer:  That Death stalks us everyday, yet we live as though we were immortal."

If we work hard at it and are lucky enough to get a good roll of the genetic dice, we just might squeeze
out nine decades wandering the surface of this rocky inner planet orbiting a mediocre star in the outer part of one of the arms of the insignificant Milky Way spiral galaxy.  Often it's less, sometimes way too less.  So use it as best you can and enjoy the ride. And if you love someone, stay in ouch with them and take -- no make -- the time to tell them. You will never regret it.