The 4 Most Important Phrases You Will Ever Utter

I have reached the age where my contemporaries are dropping like flies, awakening all sorts of emotions within me—nostalgia, fear, and regret. 
Nostalgia goes beyond reminiscing. It is a longing for the past that can be crippling and prevent us from enjoying the present.

My fear is not so much of dying but of leaving so many things undone–so much left to do and so little time to do it. I still have songs to sing and poems to write and books to read and much to learn. 

My regrets are not so much over things I did but rather over things I didn't do. I regret  not having told some people how much they mean to me, what a difference they made in my life–Miss Carr, the fifth grade teacher who imparted such a love of reading, Keith Parker, the swim coach who taught me so much about competing, Dr. Palmer, the college professor who opened my mind to different ways of thinking. And now it's too late. As Whittier wrote in "Maude Muller" a poem that I memorized in high school English, "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these it might have been."

Don't wait until it's too late to utter these four phrases.

      1.  I thank you.

      2.  I forgive you.

      3.  I am sorry.

      4.  I love you.