Why I Always Say "I Love You" When I Hang Up The Phone

A question I have been constantly asked overtime is "Why do you always say I love you every time you hang up the phone with someone?". It's always been a habit for me for years, and sometimes I don't even think about the true reason why I do it. But after a long talk with myself, I realized truly why I do.

Death. Death is my biggest fear and always has been. I've learned the hard way that God can take people away from you faster than a flash of light, and I've learned that God could take my life away at the same time it takes to push a button. And it terrifies me because I despise uncertainty.

To be honest most of the time in church or chapel, I blank out and don't necessarily listen to the sermons, but there is one sermon that I will never forget till the day I die. It was Palm Sunday (if you aren't familiar with the Catholic faith, its the day Jesus went to Jerusalem before he was then taken and crucified.) Now Palm Sunday isn't nessicarly an unhappy day, but what comes after it is the most depressing days in the church calendar. So in my church, my priest reminded us to remember that. That though on this day back in late BC/early AD was a happy day for God’s people, they never knew what was going to come the next. They were completely clueless. And so are we. We will never know when a bad day is coming, but we also will never know when a good day is coming. He finished his sermon with this quote, "The only man that knows what comes next is God. God made the plan, God knows the plan, and God doesn't change the plan for anyone. The only thing he ever wants from you is your trust. With your trust, God will do what's right. Always."

Now you're probably wondering about how this even relates to the simple words "I love you," but to me, they go hand in hand. As my priest said, you never know what will happen to you in the next 5 seconds or 5 years, so make people feel how you would want to feel if it was your last 5 minutes alive. You never know if that's your last phone call, you never know if that's the last voice you'll hear or if its the last time you'll hear their voice. So I say "I love you," and some think it's weird or unnecessary but I know that one day when I do leave this Earth, I left reminding someone that I love, that I love them. So in conclusion, be kind to people as if it was the last time you get to act upon it. Take risks as if you'll never have another chance to do them. And most importantly tell the ones you love, you love them as if you'll never get to say it again.