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I received the poem below from a dear friend and classmate yesterday. It was so timely and most appropriate when I considered what had just happened in my life the day before.

Leavon and I visit Miss Marie, our 97 year-old neighbor, in the local nursing home 3-4 times a week. While there we try to stop by and see Miss Annie, also 97, a retired school teacher and long-time friend of Leavon's family. Miss Annie was always a delight to visit. Her eyes just sparkled with love when you entered the room. Her voice trembled with enthusiasm as she welcomed you. She was the epitome of what I would call "a dear soul".

Having recently suffered a stroke, we were not sure that Miss Annie would even recognize us when we entered her room shortly after 12 PM. Our doubts were soon erased when she smiled at us with those eyes and said, "Oh, Leavon!".

We talked, we touched, and we loved each other with our smiles and words. Leavon asked her if her dearest friend, Irene, had been to visit her recently. Miss Annie, smiled with her eyes and said, "Yes, and her visits are better than a dose of medicine".

As we were leaving the nursing home, I said to Leavon, "You just have to call Irene and tell her what Miss Annie said about her friendship and her visits". Well, Leavon did call Irene, but she had an additional message to relay-- Miss Annie died peacefully in her sleep a couple of hours after we left her side.

I guess had we known that would be our last visit with Miss Annie we would have stayed longer, hugged harder and said more. You just never ever know....

Goodbye, Miss Annie!!.... and thank you for the "dose of medicine" you gave me each time we visited you.

If I knew it would be the last time
that I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly
pray the Lord, your soul to keep.

If I knew it would be the last time
that I see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss
and call you back for one more.

If I knew it would be the last time
I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would video tape each action and word,
so I could play them back day after day.

For surely there's always tomorrow
to make up for an oversight,
and we always get a second chance
to make everything right.

There will always be another day
to say our "I love you's",
And certainly there's another chance
to say our "Anything I can do's?"

But just in case I might be wrong,
and today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you
and I hope we never forget,

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
you get to hold your loved one tight.

So if you're waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you'll surely regret the day,

That you didn't take that extra time
for a smile, a hug, or a kiss
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today,
and whisper in their ear,
that you love them very much and
you'll always hold them dear.

Take time to say "I'm sorry,"
"Please forgive me," "thank you," or "it's okay".
And if tomorrow never comes,
you'll have no regrets about today.

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