Don’t Wait! – Finishing Unfinished Conversations:
We all experience times in life when you feel like you get a couple of fast balls thrown at you. They brush you back from the plate, grab your attention, or wake you up rudely.
Life deals out it’s fair share of adversity, and it shows up in a variety of ways. Some of them distract us from what is most important in life.
I try not to make these blogs personal, and yet once in a while, I am reminded that life is fragile and loss is inevitable. Regardless of how much time may have passed.
A Lifetime Ago?
It was September of 2011 and I was back east for business. I was training and teaching in one city, speaking in another, but managed to find a way to visit my family in Ohio.
My father, who had a tremendous impact on my life, had been ill for some time and was in a nursing home.
During most trips home, between long talks, eating, and a single-malt scotch or two, he and I would always find a way to sneak in a few games of pinochle, our favorite card game. He was always my partner.
This particular trip turned out be be very different from all the others. My Mom and I were visiting him at the nursing home. We had finished eating lunch, and I dealt the cards. As I did, I noticed he was struggling. He looked up at me, tears in his eyes and said, “I can’t hold the cards.”
I quickly brushed it aside and said “Don’t worry Pop, we can just talk!” And so we talked, for hours!
You Never Know When…
We talked about life , we discussed life after death, and what we thought happens after we die. We reminisced about his life and his accomplishments. His most important, according to him, was being a father to my brothers and I and a husband to my Mom. It was wonderful.
Late that night we received a phone call. He was distressed and struggling to sleep and so he called home. Mom am I rushed to see him.
He was upset with how his life was unfolding. As I listened to him, there was a point where I was no longer a son listening to his father. I was a fellow traveler caring, comforting, and just loving a man who was nearing the end of his journey. He was done!
It was an extraordinary day filled with extraordinary moments, that I have never and will never forget.
My father passed away approximately 60 days later. And although we spoke many times since that day, that was the last time I saw him.
Don’t Wait …
Life is unfolding every second of every moment of every hour of every day. Sometimes we get so caught up in the busy-ness of life that we skip over, stepover, or miss what really matters. Until it is too late.
DON’T WAIT TO HAVE THAT CONVERSATION YOU HAVE BEEN PUTTING OFF – YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN IT MIGHT BE YOUR LAST CHANCE TO SAY WHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID.
Maybe it’s a conversation you need to have with you parent, sibling, spouse, ex, child, or friend. Maybe it is time to rebuild a bridge, heal an old wound, or just be there to listen to someone in need.
It doesn’t have to be about life or death, it could simply be words of appreciation, forgiveness, or love.
As I said, life can wake you up unexpectedly and rudely. Be sure to take the time to finish those unfinished conversations.
