by Lana

When we lose a loved one, sometimes when we reflect on the past, we find missed opportunities. The spring before Alicia died, she was invited to a 2 week seminar at Princeton. I never told her how proud I was of her accomplishments! She was working on her PhD in mathematics and she had earned the highest score on her Preliminary exams and was one of the most promising students they had at the University of Colorado at Boulder. So, she was invited to attend this two week seminar.

When you lose a loved one, you think of all the “would haves” and “should haves”. So, if I could do things over again, I would have told her how proud I was of her! I know that she knows that now. But oh how I wish I could tell her myself! The moral of the story being that we should never hold back on our praise and our love! I have no regrets about telling her that I loved her! After mom died, we never hesitated to end each and every conversation with “I love you”. Life is so very short and precious. We need to praise the accomplishments of those in our lives and never forget to tell them how much they mean to us. We should never have regrets over missed opportunities!

So, to all of you, my wonderful friends, I thank you for this past year and I want you to know that I love you and your loved ones so very much! If it weren’t for you, I am not sure I would still be here. Praying that you tell those around you how much they mean to you…you may not get another chance! Let us never again have those missed opportunities! Hugging you tightly! May you find peace in this new year…a new beginning…a new promise of hope.