‘Michael O’Sullivan was my great friend. But I don’t ever remember telling him that. The words that are spoken at a funeral are spoken too late for the man who is dead. What a wonderful thing it would be to visit your own funeral. To sit at the front and hear what was said, maybe say a few things yourself. Michael and I grew old together. But at times, when we laughed, we grew young. If he was here now, if he could hear what I say, I’d congratulate him on being a great man, and thank him for being a friend.’

Jackie O’Shea, in Waking Ned Devine

Some of the most poignant things I have heard, they come in the middle of comedy and humor. Interesting. The other day someone complimen–no, it wasn’t really a ‘compliment,’ it was somehow far more genuine than just a ‘compliment.’ You know what I mean? There are compliments, then there is that other sort of comment, when someone says, pure and genuine, a simple fact about you. That. Someone made one of those remarks to me the other day, and it completely blindsided me. Like, whoa, what just happened? But that got me thinking (and it also made my day). It’s not just me…anybody..when someone makes one of those genuine and true comments, it catches the person off guard entirely. 

Because we never say things like that until after someone dies. Just like old Jackie realized in that wonderful movie. Maybe we ought to tell the people we love the important things before they are gone.