Not saying goodbye to someone before they die...

I said goodbye to my Mother earlier this year via Skype and that was good, but I will admit that saying good bye face to face, holding her hand may have helped in my grieving process! Unfortunately life doesn’t always allow you those moments and they are normally fantasized over in the movies. I believe that it is a good way to get over a loss, if you are able to say your goodbyes. But I don't think it is essential and I kind of like irishgits way!

Nah. The benefit of being Irish-Catholic (even if it's cultural and not observant) is if you missed saying goodbye before they croaked, you can lug a bottle of Jameson's down to the cemetary and polish it off beside the gravestone while you talk over old times with the departed.

I guess the only benefit of a terminal disease is that you can square away those good- byes with your loved ones. I've said good- bye to a few people in hospices when they knew they were on their way into the next world. It gives a sense of closure to the whole affair. It always seems to hurt harder when loved ones die unexpectedly. Eight years ago, I was engaged to this amazing Colombian named Hernando. I'm afraid of commitment, and he helped me deal with it some. But I still had issues, one day I panicked at the thought of being married, so I picked a fight over an unreturned phone call. I wasn't mad, I just needed an excuse to be a bitch. I told him I never loved him. Later I felt guilty and callled him to apologize. He didn't answer his phone so I left a message saying something along the lines of 'call me back, we need to talk.' I didn't hear from him that day and I got slightly annoyed that he didn't call me back. The next day when the phone rang, I picked it up and this Latino ... Read more

My uncle died from a heart attack a couple of days after I drove by his house. He was sitting on the porch and I waved to him but didn't stop. I didn't know it was the last time I'd see him but that would be the only time I would say I've felt some regret.

I do feel sad about a few friends who passed away & I found out long after the fact.One buddy in particular,had moved away & came back ill. He called me & wanted to get together but I was busy.I had NO IDEA he was on his way out,and only years later did I figure out that he had wanted to tell me in person and say goodbye.

To this day I'm haunted by the fact that I didn't make peace with Liberace. I just hope I can get through to Zsa Zsa Gabor before its too late.

I've never experienced that. I have felt mild regret that I was not with any of my grandparents or parents when they actually died. But, honestly not all that much. The thing is, I didn't really see what good I would be standing around not knowing what to do. At that point, I think they're pretty well no longer connected to this world and there really isn't anything you can do. Maybe just sit there, I don't know. There are as many scenarios as there are people in the world so, this may not be the right way to look at it for everyone. I have heard that it is believed that some people near death will actually wait until they're alone to spare their loved ones the actual moment of death. Of that I can only say that I don't think I would want anyone there either.

Saying goodbye to them before they die...that's rushing things a bit, isn't it?

You have to say 'good-bye' constantly, so this doesn't happen.

it would have been nice. both my parents died suddenly. thing is what to say? my dad would have been easier than my mom. we were not a get to say what we want family. seems like the only one who got to say exactly what she wanted was my mother{ and not in a good way} guess the regrets would be that we could have said more what we wanted in the first place. maybe there would have been some better goodbyes.

This had happend to me, and It is not pretty.

Perhaps this sounds hard-hearted, but I never considered this to be that crucial. You don't know for sure when someone is going to die. What matters is that you have a strong relationship with them long before that time comes, so they will already know they are loved.

When people tend to start showing regrets is usually when they are about to die themself or there going through the attic and find a picture or a letter from someone theyve loved before and they start to realize what theyve had and what theyve let go of ever so thoughtlessly and the old saying comes true you dont realize what you got until its gone