09/10/2021
Just saw this post online.
Sums up what Goodbyebook.com is all about.
I saw a quote attributed to Anne Frank about the deceased receiving more flowers than the living because regret is stronger than gratitude.
Never has this been more true than today, with the daily (hourly) reports of people dying from COVID.
Jamie, a friend I had seen regularly in the 1990s, passed away last night at DCH. He was a funny dude with a dry sense of humor. Healthy. Outgoing. Just 4 years older than me, he wasn't afraid to make fun of you the way a friend would. As often happens with friendships, we eventually fell out of touch in the 2000s. But, we reacquainted just before the pandemic and picked up right where we left off. Then the pandemic ended it again. And now he's gone.
I regret not staying in touch with him more. You always think you have time catch up later, etc. Now that he's passed on, there's no chance of that ever happening. It's arrogant and prideful to assume we have tomorrow.
I'm not posting this to get any kind of sympathy or to make it about me. It isn't. Jamie's death is the most recent in a long, sad line of recent deaths that everyone is mourning now. I pray that his family finds peace and comfort.
I'm going to miss Jamie, and so many others, for a long time and I'm going to regret not reaching out to them more. The last few years, especially since the deaths of my parents, has made me change the way I look at my friends, my family, my son and my wife. I want them to know that I'm glad they're here and that I'm grateful for them. I want to give them metaphoric flowers now, while they're living. While I'm living. We should celebrate this fragile, brief gift of life, filling it with gratitude by laughing, talking and breaking bread together. We should be quicker with "Love ya" and meaning it. Every hour counts!
Talk to ya later, Jamie.
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