@Isescream_122036 20 July 2021 more from that month

Giving Praise now...Not later

Recently, I had the fortunate chance of reconnecting with my high school friends. We all belong in the same organization but sadly lost contact over the years. I created a group chat with them and we all happily delved into it. Catching up with everyone's life, sharing experiences, sharing jokes like the goofs that we all are. It felt like the years between of not seeing or talking to each other was erased. We're back to being 16 - 17 year old again. Such fun to reminisce on how to be young. We all resumed friendship as if no time has passed. Finally promising to meet up as soon as we can. Not so long after we committed to have a reunion, sadly and unexpectedly, one of our classmates passed. We were all surprised by the suddenness of his demise as we only a few days ago he was actively chatting and exchanging stories with us. Due to the unexpected news, we talked about how he was back in high school, the good things and memories we have of him. There were some laughs and the closes to him then even cried. It was a sort of memorial and eulogy. This got me and one of my other classmate (and friend) get to thinking. Why do we only say how we feel and what we think about a person, a friend, a loved on when hey can no longer hear us? When they can no longer feel meaning of the words? Why not do it now? And so, me and this classmate decided we will write each other's eulogy while can still react to it. We were laughing so hard as we were discussing it. I went ahead to write the eulogy thinking it's quite a funny and intriguing task. While I was doing so, I realized that this classmate and friend has helped to shape the person that I am today. My personality, how I react to things in my present life is affected by all things that I learned while interacting with people I met in the coursed of my lifetime, including my friends and loved ones. I got lessons on how to love, how to laugh, how to live. I find that it's really important that we tell and show the people around us now how we feel instead of waiting for something as passing away before we let them know their value in our lives. On a side note, my classmate (and friend) both had a good laugh and cried when we read each other's eulogy. I can feel that this will surely bring us closer and make our kind of old and kind of new friendship forward.