Lately, it seems I’ve been on both sides of the issue – the bearer of good and bad news as well as the recipient of both. I can tell you, it’s not easy delivering bad news. At the same time I find it difficult to be the recipient of good news from people because it seems that right behind the good news they have for me, they share a sad story with me. 

I feel for them and it makes rejoicing in the good news I’ve just received quite difficult.

The conflict of delivering good news and/or bad news first came to mind because of the number of my friends and acquaintances who have been met with some misfortune recently. In some of those situations their anguish has been compounded by multiple incidents. 

A very close friend lost her father a little more than a month before she lost her husband. I am happy to report that she seems to be rebounding well with the hope of other family members and good friends.

I lost a cousin who was relatively young. My entire family grieved deeply over her passing. But her husband of forty-one years has been in mourning, it seems, for most of the year. He sat by, dutifully, as his wife suffered the ravages of cancer, all the while trying to provide comfort to his dying sister. She, sadly, succumbed to her illness.

Another friend and I often comment on the people we know who pass. Seems a morbid topic, but what we and I’m sure others realize is that we are not getting any younger and with age comes death. It never seems that people are given enough time to do all the things they may want to do in life and that death comes too soon. 

But these deaths should serve as reminders to us to live our lives to the fullest – everyday. Do all you can while you can. Love yourself. Love your family. Leave no regrets.