IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES

Dear Family And Friends,

Those of you that read my E-Mails or follow my BLOG know that I try to balance out what I send or what I write. I try to send heart warming stories, or stories of encouragement, funny stories, and then some times I can go totally off the wall with something maybe a little risque, or like the E-Mail I sent today showing off my dance moves. LOL I send a lot of animal stories as every one seems to love them. I have used my BLOG to pay tribute to a lot of very special people who have been in my life or still are in my life.

This time I am going to get a little serious. Back in the late eighties or early nineties Garth  Brooks was the hottest singer in the country not only on the country charts but with pop music also. Of all the songs he recorded when I see him or hear his name mentioned the one song that he did that immediately comes to my mind is If Tomorrow Never Comes.

In the past year or so Joan and I have had so many people we know pass away, a lot of them we were very close to. In the last two months Joan has spent a bit of time in the hospital. In the emergency room the other night they ran out of room and had people in beds right out in the open, Joan went in early in the morning and they did not have a room for her until 8:00 PM in the evening. All of these events have made me think a lot about this song.

I have taken the words to the song and eliminated some words, moved some words around, added some words of my own to try to convey my thoughts.

Sometimes late at night I lie awake so I turn out the lights and lay there in the dark and the thought crosses my mind if I never wake up in the morning would my family and friends know the way I feel about them in my heart, if tomorrow never comes would they know how much I loved them. Did I try in every way to show them every day just how much I loved them.

If my time on earth were through and they face this world without me, is the love I showed them in the past gonna be enough to last if tomorrow never comes.

This part is so true I know it has happened to me and I bet it has happened to a lot of you also.

Cause I've lost loved ones in the past who never knew how much I loved them, now I live with that regret that my true feelings for them were never revealed, ( Sadly I realized that after I did a eulogy for Janet, Joan's beautiful daughter after the tragic car accident that took her life on Christmas Eve, 2002, I did not know they made a audio tape of the Memorial Service and when I heard it played back I said, Wow a lot of the nice things I said about her I had never said to her, I have been on a crusade ever since to let the people I love and care about known how I feel about how much they mean to me and avoid that circumstance where there's no second chance to tell them how I feel ).

So tell that someone that you love
Just what you are thinking of
If tomorrow never comes.

I bet almost every one of you that read this have said recently, Wow you know what I should call so and so as I have not seen or heard from them for awhile, oh I am busy I will do it tomorrow, now you know that tomorrow may never come. I bet almost all of you know someone that is virtually house bound and you have said I should give them a call, I should send them a card, or better yet I probably should go by and see them and ask them if there is any thing they need, don't procrastinate, just do it, TOMORROW MAY NEVER COME.

Ok it's Sunday and that is my Sunday sermon , LOL Let me end this with this beautiful poem:

If Tomorrow Never Comes:

If I knew it would be the last time
That I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly
And pray the Lord your soul to keep.

If I knew it would be the last time
That I'd see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss,
And call  you back for just one more.

THAT'S JUST WHAT HAPPENED TO US, JANET WALKED OUT THE DOOR, SHE BYE MOM' BYE JOE, MERRY CHRISTMAS, I LOVE YOU, I WILL SEE YOU TOMORROW AND ONE HOUR LATER SHE WAS DEAD ON THE FLORIDA TURNPIKE.



If I knew it would be the last time
I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise, 
I would tape each word and action,
And play them back throughout my days.

If I knew it would be the last time,
I would spare an extra minute Or two,
To stop and say ( I Love You, )
Instead of assuming you know I do.

So just in case tomorrow never comes,
and today is all I get,
I'd like to say I love you,
And I hope we never will forget.

Tomorrow is not promised to any one,
Young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
You get to hold your loved one tight.

So if you're waiting for tomorrow,
Why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
You'll surely regret the day.

That you din't take that extra time
For a smile, a hug, or a kiss,
And you were too busy to grant someone,
What turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold ypur loved ones close today,
And whisper in their ear,
That you love them very much and
You'll always hold them dear.

Take time to say " I'm sorry "
' Please forgive me, : thank you " it's okay "
And if tomorrow never comes,
You'll have no regrets about today.