When Mary (my bride of 40+ years) came into my office, she looked sad.

“Whats wrong?” I asked.

“Upon opening a Christmas card,” she replied, ” I just learned that an old high school friend died suddenly this past year. The one we meant to visit. ”

Her friend lived in Las Vegas, and for the past several years we had talked about making a trip to see her and some other friends. After all, Las Vegas is only a few hours away, and people from Phoenix go there all the time. Now it was too late.

I was reminded of my own  procrastination when a cousin passed away twenty years ago. Diagnosed with cancer, he was home from the hospital and doing better.

When I called his home, I got the answering machine. Rather than leave a message, I thought “I’ll call again in a few days.” But he took a sudden turn for the worse, and died the next day.

This was not meant to be morbid or sad, but rather to serve as a reminder.

Don’t wait too long… to visit a friend, to hug your kids (or grandkids), or to start that new consulting practice.

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