Chapter three of my book, Changing with Aging, is: Give Love. Hang on to your most meaningful relationships. This may sound so simple, so easy to come up with super examples. However, I challenge you to do so.
I could have done a better job over the last 50 or so years. At times, I took for granted that those closest to me would know that I loved them. What, I’m going to turn to a buddy at a Packers football game and say, “Pass the peanuts and oh, by the way, I love you”?
I never did that. Yet, there were so many other ways to express my deep affection for those close to me. And as decades zipped by, my brother (Eddie), my mentor (Frank Tate), my dad (Vern), my boss (Rueben) and a host of other close friends I truly loved never received any concrete expression of how instrumental our relationship was to my very soul. I can’t catch up with them now. Many took off to heaven. One disappeared somewhere in Africa. Another is in the final stages of Alzheimers.
I’ll bet you’ve done a better job than I have. Share how you have hung on to your most meaningful relationships.What ways do you express your love?