Say goodbye while you can

A friend of mine's husband dropped dead of a heart attack recently. He was barely 50, I think, and in reasonable shape.

She is devastated. There was no warning at all. One moment he was there... the next, he wasn't.

That's why I think it's important to say the things that matter, while you still have time.

Tell the people you love, that you love them.

Don't leave, or hang up the phone, angry. Don't go to bed angry.

Be kind while you have the chance.

I'm saying this not because of my friend the new widow, but because of another friend long ago, whose brother was hit by a car and killed when they were children. He had been nagging her to go play, and she got angry and told him to go away and leave her alone. So he went outside to play, was hit, and was gone.

The last, angry words she said to him, tortured her still, decades later.

Some people regret the things they said. Others regret not saying what needed to be said.

Don't have regrets.

UPDATE: I wonder if the 228 people on Air France flight 447 this morning, or their families, had any regrets before their plane disappeared off the coast of Brazil. When you're flying over water in an airplane, there's no help for you if there's a problem. No help at all.