What If There's No Tomorrow?

I was halfway writing a post on corporate Christmas functions when I received a call from Will saying that he won't be coming over tonight. A close relative of Will's mate has just passed away. He and a couple of friends are going to spend some time with this mate tonight.

This is of course not the first time someone close to a friend of ours passed away; however hearing this news will always make me feel upset and sad - for the person to whom this happens to but also generally. I have been fortunate enough until this stage in life to not have to lose a loved one, but from time to time I would wonder what it's like not to have someone I love around, ever again.

What if I can no longer talk to Will every night before I sleep? What if I can no longer hear my mom grumble about her workplace woes during dinner time? What if when I am back in Malaysia the next time I won't see my grandmother sitting around the dining table reading her newpapers?

But these thoughts are usually to painful to bear and I would just stop thinking about it altogether.

It would just be much easier to appreciate the people you love when they are around, so that if they do happen to disappear one day, you know you have nothing to regret, and that they know you love them. Would it not be most painful to lose someone not knowing whether they understand how you feel about them?

Will and I have a self-imposed policy (or rather it's his policy which I have learnt to adopt) that the two of us will not go to sleep on any night after having had an argument without reconciling. We have to come to mutual terms or at least be on talking conditions in order for both of us to get sleep. It has worked for us so far (because sleep is my precious) - and which also means that we are rarely in an argument for longer than a day. So tonight before you go to sleep, do something nice for the people you love. Or if you're in the midst of an argument, have an attempt at patching up.

Ensure that you have everything done you can, tonight, before you go to sleep, so that tomorrow by the time you wake up, no matter what has happened, you will have no regrets.

PS. And corporate Christmas functions will have to wait ...