. Did I Tell You I Loved You?

I have a cousin that has cancer and is saying goodbye.  In addition to being her cousin,  I am also an admirer, one who from the distance has watched her hair go and then come again, and now see it gone once more.  One who has seen courage and the challenge of living when the will to live is sapped by fatigue and discouragement.  She has the same cancer for many years, first small and curable (it seemed), and now all-consuming and terrifying.  I was hopeful at the beginning, and told her so, and now must have the same courage and frankness about dying which she shows.

Her Cheerful Hello

She greets me with a “Hello, Marie!” as though today were like any other day we have been together, only now I am the caretaker of her needs and her young son.  I love her and I want her to know that now.  Not tomorrow, not next week, not when it is too late!  Do you have the same unfinished “love you” business in your life, too?

Say I Love You Now

If so, do me a favor.  In fact, do yourself a favor.  When you are at the store next, buy a package of small note cards (small enough that your message doesn’t need to be long to be meaningful).  Come home, put stamps on each of the envelopes, along with a return address label.  Put a note card inside the flap of each envelope and put these “packets” in a zip lock bag convenient and ready to serve you.  Now you are prepared to tell those you love how much they mean, easily and quickly, with a short note, a lick of the envelope and their address.  (There may be times when an email will do the same thing, but for the ill there is something nicer and more tangible about envelopes, handwriting, and a note card to hold.)

Keep Up With Loving Others

Keeping up with your “love yous” keeps our mind at peace.  I am going to the store again today and do it myself.  Notes, envelopes, stamps, and return address labels.  I will get them ready and when the urge or the need comes to tell someone how important they are to me, it will be easy.  I can do it and be done.  You can, too!

Find more helpful ideas in the House of Order Handbook.