Life can be full of uncertainty and the same is true for dying. When will it occur? The doctors don’t really know, they can only give their best guess. The ones who give an exact time are likely out of their depth and answer with false confidence. Three weeks. Three days. Three hours. Medical science is not that exact yet. Maybe someday there will be a test that will tell people exactly how long they have left to live. Not available yet.

Sometimes people will say their goodbyes too soon. They carefully choose their words as it might be the last time they ever see each other again. Could it be the final farewell? Yes, it could be. We’d better say what we really need to say just in case it is the last chance we ever get. A final chance to connect with a loved one. A final chance to heal or to hurt. A final chance to say what a person means to you. A chance to wish them all the best for the future you won’t be a part of. A final chance to share one last rendition of a long-standing private joke. One last hug. At least you had a chance to see them before it was too late. Not everyone makes it in time, which has been particularly painful in these COVID-affected years. So close, but yet so far. So much suffering.

Why do we leave things unsaid until we know a person is dying? Could we have told them the truth earlier when we were both fit and healthy? All of us who live will at some stage die. It could happen to any of us, not everyone gets the chance to say goodbye to the important people in their lives. Sudden deaths can happen without any warning. Accidents happen all of the time through no fault of anyone. What would you regret not telling someone today, if you were to die tomorrow? Death could happen to any one of us, at any time.

If you both can still see each other the next day, consider it a bonus.