Our relationship had been strained for a long time (because I was a boneheaded and stubborn teenager); only in the preceding few months had it thawed.

The last time we spoke, I had just gotten married, he told me he was proud of me, and that he loved me as I walked out the door; I don’t think we’d said anything like that in several years. I was so taken aback that I didn’t reciprocate, just sort of awkwardly left.

He died suddenly 2 days later.

It’s been 16 years and that still eats at me.