Never have regrets of spending time with someone you love

I have been meaning to post other blogs not related to ENGL 106, but I never felt that I had anything to post that would be interesting for others to read. This may be long but I needed to write, to capture what happened to me today.

My older sister Bonnie currently attends Purdue. Bonnie and I have truly gotten closer these past few years and now that we attend the same school, I am able to see her more often. Just this past week, I spent 3 nights eating dinner and shopping with Bonnie. Last Thursday was Chinese New Year and to celebrate, we went to KFC! Yes, we had Kentucky Fried Chicken instead of Chinese food!

Last Saturday, Bonnie called me and asked me to join her for dinner. When I told my friends that I would not be eating with them again that night, my friends were upset that I was spending so much time with Bonnie instead of them. One of my friends commented, “Hasn’t Bonnie had enough time with you this week? It’s time for you to eat dinner with us.” Even though my friend said this in a joking way, I took it to heart and even thought about not going to dinner with Bonnie. But I decided to eat with Bonnie and I am glad I did. It could have been my last time.

Monday, February 11, 2008, will be a day that I will never forget. After every class, I always check my phone to make sure I did not miss a call or message. However for some strange reason I didn’t do that on Monday. I didn’t check my phone until 2:30 – the time when shock took over my entire body. I saw that my mother had called many times and left a voice message around 1:00. I listened to the message, wondering what could have been the matter that she called me so many times. As I listened to the message, I heard my mother crying, telling me that Bonnie had been hit by a car while walking to class and that she was in the hospital right now.

So many thoughts raced through my head. What had happened? How could this be? I just talked to her this morning on the phone! Was she okay? How badly was she hurt? Was she conscious? Was she alive?

I am extremely happy to say that Bonnie is okay. Miraculously she only suffered from a few cuts, several bruises, and a small head injury - even after being launched into the air and landing on her head and face. She has no broken bones. How amazing! I believe that Bonnie is truly blessed that she was able to walk away alive. I am still in shock and thoughts still race through my mind. What if she hadn’t been so lucky? She could have broken many bones. She could have lost her memory. She could have been paralyzed. And worst of all, she could have been killed.

Today will be a day that I will never forget – a day that I almost lost my sister. I regret that I was influenced by my friends, who made me feel bad for spending so much time with Bonnie. Why wouldn't I want to spend time with Bonnie? She's my sister! Though this may sound harsh, I believe it: friends are replaceable - sisters are not.

We always hear, “Treat every day as your last.” and “Always tell your friends and family that you love them today for tomorrow may be too late.” I never took these sayings seriously until now. What if Bonnie didn’t make it out okay? I would have regretted that I didn’t tell her how much I loved her and appreciated her.

I wanted to share this story with you all and to really stress this point: Never have regrets of spending time with someone you love. Never, never, never. Never regret the time you have with others. Take the time to tell the special people in your life how much you love them and care about them – even if you know that they know. What’s the harm in telling them again? Treasure the time you have with your loved ones. Treasure all the precious little moments.