The Only Regret that Death Brings

Every Sunday, my friend Madisyn and I see one another and we usually go to the beach. One of the first times we did this was on a day in late August. The sun was blazing but there was a wonderful breeze. It was perfect. We both feel so open hearted whenever we’re at the beach.

I remember on this particular day we got in the water and began our dive into deep and meaningful conversation. This time the topic of conversation was on our futures in business. In the middle of brainstorming beautiful ideas, two men started talking with us. We talked for a few minutes about nothing then I asked if one of them could teach me how to throw the football they were holding (I had always wanted to, ha).

After some tips from him, I threw it rather roughly. Then after a few laughs, him and I naturally started talking about something extremely meaningful and I asked him if he would want to share his definition of love with me on camera for my social media. That is of course after I explained my legacy to him. He said yes with no hesitation. I was astonished to find him pulling out this beautiful story of his mom passing away which he didn’t share with me prior to the interview.

His thoughts on regretting not being able to express how much he loved his mother before she passed away reminded me of my own sadness I felt in my near death experience for not being able to express how much I loved the people in my life particularly the feelings I held for a man I was dating for 6 months.

In the presence of death, it appears our thoughts are always on love. How well did we love? Did we express that love? Did the ones we love know we loved them? Were we loved? I think in the last moments of all of our lives, we’ll realize we were loved, we were so loved. My only hope is that we all realize this before that time comes.

There’s a quote out there that says, “Live fully, die empty.” But I argue that if someone lives fully, they will never die empty. When we live fully, we are choosing to do so from a place of deep love for ourselves. Living fully means surrounding yourself with things, experiences, and people you love. Once you are constantly surrounded by that love, you will always feel full because the only hole that could make us feel empty is the hole that the lack of love brings.