[img]396|left|Alex Campbell||no_popup[/img] I didn’t think I could write this week. I started to, and then it got too hard, so I stopped. I told my editor that I wasn’t up to it, and that I knew he would understand. As my deadline draws near, however, I realize that I have to write, because of what I want to say. If I didn’t write, I would be a hypocrite.
As I type this, Amy, one of my best friends, is lying in a medically induced coma, sick with pneumonia. Her life hangs in the balance, and memories of our friendship calm me and make me cry at the same time. We’ve been friends for seventeen years.
What I want to tell you is this: go tell someone you love him or her. Tell that person what you like about him, why she makes you laugh, what you told someone about him or her.
Write a letter.
Leave a message.
Text.
Drop a note.
Send an email.
Say it to her face.
Don’t wait until you’ve had a fight and want to make up.
Don’t wait until he “comes to his senses.”
Don’t wait until Mother’s Day.
Don’t wait until she visits next month.
Don’t wait until his birthday.
Don’t wait until she dies.
Do it now. Do it again. Do it often.
Don’t wait.
If I had waited, I wouldn’t have written this, and how could I tell you to “say it” without saying it myself?
Amy and I share what we mean to each other often. I take comfort in that, as she appears to be resting peacefully in her hospital bed. You’re special to me, Amy, and I know you know that.
Don’t wait.
Ms. Campbell may be contacted at campbellalexandra@hotmail.com
