We never know when the end will come and we never know which words will be our last.

With this in mind, my mother has always tried to make sure all her last words in the moments before parting ways are good, kind, loving words.

During our teenage years, this was of course, quite a trial. There were days where I would storm out of the house with my nose in a knot over who knows what. We would both leave angry. I would be in class for less than 2 hours when I would get a page to the office, and a message to call my Mother (no cell phones back then, kids!).

When I called, the first thing she would say is "I love you", because, what if something happened to one of us that day? What if those horrible things we said in the morning were the last ones we got to say? No one should live with that, and yet, too many people do.

This didn't mean that my Mother never got angry with me, or that she didn't discipline us. She did, and she did, but she never left it there.

Today, as adults, when we part ways, she still makes sure to give us a hug and kiss. She still says I love you, every time she hangs up the phone and she often facebooks us Xoxos, just in case we didn't know.

You never know which moment is going to be your last. Treat them all carefully.