Delayed Appreciation

Eulogies are always meant to be of appreciating and remembering the good things about the departed. Somehow people are not truly cherished until they are find themselves in a rectangular human-sized box accompanied by wreath and solemn music.

"He was such a good musician"
"Her smile lights up the room"
"When I was troubled, I would call her up and she would readily listen to my complaints. She never once turned me down"

All these words describe how wonderful that person is but do we actually tell them when they're still alive and breathing? Do we keep track of the little things that make our loved ones such unique people? I guess all of us are guilty of not showing our love and appreciation for our loved ones when they're alive. We take for granted that they're always there by our side, giving us love, sharing our good times together and we'll walk towards the sunset in the horizon together for eternity.

But reality bites and we know that. People die. Maybe not today, tomorrow nor next week but one fateful day, a day you least expect it. You laugh when your relationship's good, you cry together when things get tough and you fight sometimes when you disagree but at the end of the day if you don't express what you feel, you'll regret when that person dies.

For my people I cherish who have gone ahead before me, I'm glad that we didn't have any misunderstandings before you guys left. But I wished we spent more times together. Life seems empty without your presence and although time heals the pain, I'm caught reminiscing when something reminds me of you.

We are always receiving junk mail about how guy A and girl B meets and fall in love but never had the chance to tell each other "I love you" and then girl B dies of cancer and guy A cries in regret. Whether the story is true or not, we learn that taking people for granted never results in good things. I try sometimes to work things out with someone when our relationship turns sour. I pick up the broken pieces left and try to mend it but you can't glue a broken vase and make it look new. You will still see cracks and if you fill the vase with water, the water will seep out of the cracks and its as good as a broken vase.