Before It's Too Late

[Guest guest]

In

a class I teach for adults, I recently did the “unpardonable.” I gave

the class homework! The assignment was to “go to someone you love

within the next week and tell them you love them. It has to be someone

you have never said those words to before or at least haven’t shared

those words with for a long time.” Now

that doesn’t sound like a very tough assignment, until you stop to

realized that most of the men in that group were over 35 and were

raised in the generation of men that were taught that expressing

emotions is not “macho.” Showing feelings or crying (heaven forbid!)

was just not done. So this was a very threatening assignment for some. At

the beginning of our next class, I asked if someone wanted to share

what happened when they told someone they loved them. I fully expected

one of the women to volunteer, as was usually the case, but on this

evening one of the men raised his hand. He appeared quite moved and a

bit shaken. As he

unfolded out of his chair (all 6’2” of him), he began by saying,

“Dennis, I was quite angry with you last week when you gave us this

assignment. I didn’t feel that I had anyone to say those words to, and

besides, who were you to tell me to do something that personal? But as

I began driving home my conscience started talking to me. It was

telling me that I knew exactly who I needed to say ‘I love you’ to. You

see, five years ago, my father and I had a vicious disagreement and

really never resolved it since that time. We avoided seeing each other

unless we absolutely had to at Christmas or other family gatherings.

But even then, we hardly spoke to each other. So, last Tuesday by the

time I got home I had convinced myself I was going to tell my father I

loved him. “It’s weird, but just making that decision seemed to lift a heavy load off my chest. “When

I got home, I rushed into the house to tell my wife what I was going to

do. She was already in bed, but I woke her up anyway. When I told her,

she didn’t just get out of bed, she catapulted out and hugged me, and

for the first time in our married life she saw me cry. We stayed up

half the night drinking coffee and talking. It was great! “The

next morning I was up bright and early. I was so excited I could hardly

sleep. I got to the office early and accomplished more in two hours

than I had the whole day before. “At

9:00 I called my dad to see if could come over after work. When he

answered the phone, I just said, ‘Dad, can I come over after work

tonight? I have something to tell you.’ My dad responded with a grumpy,

‘Now what?’ I assured him it wouldn’t take long, so he finally agreed. “At

5:30, I was at my parents’ house ringing the doorbell, praying that Dad

would answer the door. I was afraid if Mom answered that I would

chicken out and tell her instead. But as luck would have it, Dad did

answer the door. “I didn’t waste any time – I took one step in the door and said, ‘Dad, I just came over to tell you that I love you.' “It

was as if a transformation came over my dad. Before my eyes his face

softened, the wrinkles seemed to disappear and he began to cry. He

reached out and hugged me and said, ‘I love you too, son, but I’ve

never been able to say it.’ “It

was such a precious moment I didn’t want to move. Mom walked by with

tears in her eyes. I just waved and blew her a kiss. Dad and I hugged

for a moment longer and then I left. I hadn’t felt that great in a long

time. “But that’s not

even my point. Two days after that visit, my dad, who had heart

problems, but didn’t tell me, had an attack and ended up in the

hospital, unconscious. I don’t know if he'll make it. “So

my message to all of you in this is: Don’t wait to do the things you

know need to be done. What if I had waited to tell my dad – maybe I

will never get the chance again! Take the time to do what you need to

do and do it now!”- Author Unknown - Visit : Sai Messages : http://saimessages.blogspot.com/ Sai Divine Inspirations : http://saidivineinspirations.blogspot.com/ Love Is My Form : http://loveismyform.blogspot.com/ (for non-Sai members)