[jluetjen]

I feel for you Shaun. After my Dad passed away, I remember driving through Connecticut on a business trip, a time when I'd often call him because I was close. I couldn't do that any more. But I figured at that point that if he could hear me, he would be listening, so I had the same conversation that I'd normally have with him. Curiously the response was about the same. He never was much for a lot of conversation.

I've come to appreciate as I've gotten older that you never know when will be the last time that you talk with someone. So I always try to treat each conversation with the important people in my life with the same sincerity as if it were to be my last. That doesn't mean long profuse good byes, but rather pay attention to the person, honestly tell them my thoughts, often reinforce how much they mean to me and try to finish the conversation so that I'll have no regrets in the future.

Material things and accomplishments are nice, but personally I've come to believe that my value as a person is the impression that I leave on the people around me. If that is a good impression the last time that we meet, than I guess we're in a good place.