This I Believe

IF THEY ONLY KNEW…

“Always Kiss Me Goodnight” reads a wooden plaque over my bedroom door. I cherish this plaque because it represents the importance of emotional indication due to the fact that tomorrow is not guaranteed. Therefore, I believe in expressing feelings of love to those I care for daily.

My best friend in eighth grade helped me to discover this belief. She was new to our school but fit in well. After a few short days, we became the best of friends. Those who knew us claimed we were “joined at the hip.” We spent everyday together. However, it always took a special occasion- a birthday or a holiday- for us to verbally express how much we cared for each other. Our feelings otherwise remained implied.

Then we suddenly had a big, ugly, viscious fight, the subject being a boy that I had liked for awhile. I found out that she was going out with him and felt heartbroken and betrayed.

Unfortunately, it was that now meaningless fight that caused me to let what I still consider today to have been my best friend get away.

But I moved on. In high school I was starting to adjust to a new group of friends and was feeling pretty happy. Then suddenly, my grandma got really sick. My grandma and I were very, very close. She was my last grandparent and because she was blind, she called me her “eyes” and her “buddy.” My family and I went to see her every night and we spent each day like it was her last. With every visit, I told her I loved her. We sang songs together and had multiple heart-to-heart conversations. I wanted to make sure she knew how much she meant to me.

Then, my grandma died. After a hard struggle, she passed of kidney failure from diabetes.

However, it was this devastating event that allowed me to reestablish my relationship with my best friend from eighth grade. Going to sleep and thinking about my friend and my grandma caused me to think about how I would have felt if I hadn’t expressed my feelings to my grandma before she died. I realized I didn’t want to risk living with such preventable regrets. In saying goodbye to my grandma, I was able to say goodbye to past grudges and put the present and the future in proper perspective.

Having lost someone so important to me made me realize the significance of cherishing those I love. In treasuring them, I came to the conclusion that expressing feelings to those I love everyday is worth the time because tomorrow is not guaranteed. By speaking from the heart, I can prevent any regrets and leave a substantial impression on those I love.

I believe that through expression I am able to connect deeper to those I love and reassure them of my feelings. I believe that fights, grudges, and even small arguments are not worth the effort and should be resolved before going to sleep to obtain a positive impact. But most importantly, I believe in expressing my feelings to those I love daily because enough is never enough.