give them a hug

We watched ESPN2 tonight, there was a story about a girl I went to high school with on it. She is a fantastic runner, and is trying to make the Olympic team this summer. But the story was really about her husband, who died during a marathon last November. They were training together to make the Olympic team. The worst part of the story is, they were married for 4 months. That's it. It reminded me of how fragile life is. Alicia, the girl in the story, told her husband she loved him at the starting line to the race and never spoke to him again because he collapsed a few miles into the race from a heart problem nobody knew he had. I cannot imagine losing my husband, especially after only being married 4 months.

I read a story once upon a time about a woman who lost her husband in a car accident on his way to work. Someone asked her how she could cope so well. She said that they made a point of ALWAYS having the words "I love you" be the last thing they said to each other as they went to work. The morning of the accident, they had a big fight and he stomped out of the house mad. She chased the car down as it was backing out of the driveway. She made him stop, roll down his window, and she gave him a kiss and said, "I love you" and meant it. She said that is how she could cope so well- she knew that the last words he heard his wife tell him was "I love you". That story sticks in my mind every day. (Though the story said it much better than I just did.)

Hug your husband, your wife, your children, your parents, whoever you love in life. Never take a single moment for granted.