I’ve been thinking about loss. My friends have been dealing with losing their parents. A mother, a father. My parents have lost two of their closest friends. Lately it seems like too many wakes, too many funerals. Phone calls are scary, as they bring news of another loved one passing away.

And the timing is surreal. One week after the other, and this weekend, the whole country will mourn their losses again. All Soul’s Day is at hand to pay respect to people we’ve lost. Sometimes old wounds are reopened as the pain feels new and fresh, with their graves the only thing staring back at you when you call their name.

I cannot imagine the loss my friends have felt, or my parent’s as friends for decades have come and gone. I can only be there for the people that have been left behind, the hole that was left, gaping and devastating to the ones who loved them most.

I hope today you hug the people you love and tell them how much they matter to you. Savor their presence in your life. Forget about the small annoyances or disagreements that overcome your affection for them. Talk a little even if you’re running around ragged, tired from every other thing that you had to do today.

And I hope this weekend you get to remember the good of the ones you’ve lost. Tell them thanks, wish them well in where they are now. A place without pain, loss, emptiness and that sick feeling you get when you realize a person who has closed their eyes and stopped breathing will never open them again.

And I hope you love today, before it’s too late. Love because you’re worth the feeling, and love because they deserve it too.