At 42, I have had my fair share of losses. And the hardest loss of my life was losing my father. For a month he lay in a hospital bed, intubated, on a ventilator, fighting for his life before he was gone, without a goodbye. I had never spoken to him about the life he lived, or the impact he had on me. It took me years to understand what unsettled me so deeply about it. I have come to believe this is one of the hardest things a person can endure, to leave this world without ever knowing what their life meant to the people who loved them. Imagine you are sitting at the edge of your life, wanting to hear that your life mattered, but all you get is silence. My father deserved to go knowing I cared about the life he lived. That I am grateful for what he did for me. And from the helpless desperation in my heart, I hope he felt my love and gratitude. What follows is a letter that I wish I could send to him. “Dear Dad, I am sorry I did not say these things to you in person. I hope this reaches...