Hitting you where it hurts ....

Normally I hate forwarded email. I automatically delete it without even glancing at the subject line. I opened one by mistake today.

A forward from a friend i haven't been in touch with for a long, long time. We live in the same city, yet the last time we exchanged words was at my wedding a year and a half ago. He did call a few times. I was too busy to pick up the phone. Before, we used to go on drives with music blaring and pig out on shawermas. we even went camping in Oman one Eid. Three days of washing bums with cold water and eating half cooked meat. Freezing in the night and deciding that it's better to sleep in one of the roomy Jeeps than in our sleeping bags. I was too busy to call him back. For the last one year and a half.

And today, I mistakenly open this email from him ...

Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone.
And I never see my old friends face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,
He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell.
And he rang mine but we were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game.
Tired of trying to make a name.
"Tomorrow" I say! "I will call on Jim
Just to show that I'm thinking of him."
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner, yet miles away,
"Here's a telegram sir," "Jim died today."
And that's what we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.

Remember to always say what you mean.
If you love someone, tell them.
Don't be afraid to express yourself.
Reach out and tell someone what they mean to you.
Because when you decide that it is the right time it might be
too
late.

Seize the day. Never have regrets. And most importantly, stay close to your friends and family, for they have helped make you the person that you are today.

Fuck.

I am forced to introspect and I don't like what I see.

How many friendships do we let slip from between our fingers? How many joyous memories that we cherish, yet hide away in dusty boxes of 'not enough time' on the busy shelves of life?

How many bonds that we didn't let grow, how many laughs that we didn't laugh.

I will call him. Tomorrow.