Say I Love You

‘Morning Mom.
How’d you know it was me?
We got new phones at work last week, finally have caller ID.
Sam, I just received some awful news..

She choked on her words as she began to cry.

Garrett was killed this morning.

Garrett and I grew up together. He lived across the street, and we shared a picturesque childhood. Our parents threw block parties, doors were left unlocked. Pictures of the two of us racing our Hot Wheels down our old street still hang on the wall of my parent’s home. When his family moved to Texas, mine flew down to visit. When they made their annual trips back up north, we vacationed with them. Garrett was the same age as my younger brother, born on the same day as my mom. Our families were incredibly close, and we stayed that way, even when distance separated us.

Since his deployment, my mom had been begging me to write Garrett a letter that she would include in one of the care packages she had been sending to Afghanistan. I stalled. I didn’t know what to say, and I deemed the mundane details of my day-to-day life unimportant. He was living in conditions far worse than I could ever imagine, fighting for the United States of America, and I was frustrated with my thirty minute commute to work.

I never sent a letter, and now I will never get a chance to.

So like many others who have lost loved ones will tell you, call simply to say hello. Don’t forget the power of ‘I love you‘. And even when you feel like you have nothing to say, send the letter.