A few weeks ago, I received a message from my friend’s granddaughter. It was not a message I wanted to read.
The message told me that my friend had passed away in her sleep.
When we moved to Saskatchewan in 2008, Loretta and her granddaughter were the first horse people I got to know.
She was honest, funny and a friend a person could count on. She encouraged me with my horse and was always supportive, even when she was yelling at me from the stands while I was in the show ring, telling me I had the wrong lead.
Loretta had a voice that carried, but so did her laughter, and she loved to tease and make fun. I do have great memories of her, and I am still friends with her granddaughter.
When I heard the words that she was gone, I was consumed with guilt. Guilt that I had not made the trip to visit her over the past couple of years.
She did not live far from me, but our busy lives were always in the way, or do we allow life to get that way?
I know she understood, but it still makes the pill difficult to swallow because I had the chance to see her.
We often say, “I will call you”, and do not, or “I will text later”, only to forget. We say “I will visit soon", only to rush to town to grab a few things and hurry home, or “We need to have coffee soon", only to let time slip away.
If we are all so busy in our lives, when do we make time, and how do we do it?
That message sure made me think about what is important. I made sure to go to the funeral to support her family. I did have plans that day and big ones too, but in a heartbeat, I changed my plans to spend time with her family, yet I could not do it when she was alive. There is something wrong with this picture.
People do not care if you are only able to stay for a half an hour. They will remember that you took the time for them.
Mind you, it is a two-way street, but for her it was different. She had health issues, and I should have gone to see her, but I did not, because I did not make the time.
Life is never that busy that we cannot make the effort to phone a friend or drop in for a quick coffee.
Why are we so consumed with our own lives that we just do not do it?
We cannot turn back the clock, although this is a time I wish I could.
Are we too busy trying to make the almighty dollar that everything else goes to the wayside, including friends?
In today’s world it is not easy to make loyal friends, and she was one of them.
Life is short, and work will always be there. Take the time to visit those people that mean something to you.
Yes, I know, times are tough, and we all seem to have to work harder to make ends meet, but life will be pretty lonely if we do not make the time to create wonderful memories.
If you think of someone, pick up the phone and call or send a text. Make a date for coffee and keep it; it just might be the last time.
Before you know it, they will be gone. The clock keeps ticking and it cannot be stopped.
I do not have many friends, and that is something we do not need, but the few a person has, cherish them.
