“The trouble is, you think you have time…”

– Joe Guilyard

At 11:46 a.m., on October 26th, 2017, the 9-1-1 call went out for a motor vehicle crach – car versus a tanker truck.

The emergency response was impeccable. The first units arrived on scene in a matter of minutes – two minutes, to be exact.

My parents were pronounced dead at the scene and, just like that, everything changed.

Just like any other family in this world, we were far from “perfect”. We didn’t always see eye to eye and, as my sister and I grew up, moved away and began to establish our own lives and families, we came to disagree on a whole lot more in Life. But, no matter what, we knew we were loved – and if ever we were in need, our parents were just a phone call or a quick 2-hour drive away.

That’s really no consolation to me now though… now that they’re gone – because here I am, left with all the things I needed say while they were alive; all the things I should have said, but didn’t say, because I was too stubborn to reach out.

I can even recall a conversation I had with my friend Joe, just a couple months before my parents died – he urged me to make amends with my father over an argument we’d had the last time we’d seen each other. I assured him that I had tried, but that my dad was too stubborn to listen to what I had to say.

“He doesn’t want to hear it. It’s his way or no way.”, I told Joe when he practically begged me to try again.

“You think you have time,” he said, “but one day your time will run out.”

Little did I know, our time was going to run out much sooner than I ever could have anticipated.

So what DO we do with all the things we need to say to someone we’ll never see again?

I’m still figuring this one out but, if you’re reading this and it reminds you of someone in your own life with whom you have unspoken words, I urge you not to put it off any longer. Pay them a visit, give them a call… even a hand written letter or long-winded text message typed straight from your heart is better than allowing time to pass with all of your unspoken words.

Take it from me. Please learn from my mistakes. Say what you need to say – and say it TODAY, because “things happen”, and they happen so fast.

#BeyondTheBoylstonLine