"I lived as if she'd always be there. And in her typical quiet way she encouraged that illusion. But an illusion it was."
I read this the last time it was posted and this scared the living hell out of me. It has reminded me to never take people, especially my family, for granted. I used to be much more reluctant to go home, but as I've grown older I now appreciate the finiteness of life.
> After my mother died, I wished I'd spent more time with her.
Sometimes I wonder this about my own parents. I haven't seen them in over a year. I have no desire to see them either, and am dreading the obligatory Christmas call.
I see a ton of advice floating around these days about "make sure to visit your parents a lot, because you'll regret it after they die if you don't". But there's another side to the "life is short" coin: maybe it's not worth spending time with people that make you intensely unhappy, even if those people are your parents.
This year I sold my company, and as exciting as that has been, I wish I could have told him about it. :(
My dad died this year and the result of all those visits is that I have zero regrets. I'm grateful I stuck with them because having regrets now, when it's too late, would be awful.
My life would improve immensely if I didn't ever visit my family. I see them once a year and it is once a year to much. I love them, but ideally it would be from very far away for the rest of our lives.
The ones closest to you can hurt you the most.