As someone who has lost a parent, I notice that so many people who haven't don't really know how to respond.

Which is fine. It's okay.

If you haven't lost a parent yet, then I need you to know that you shouldn't feel guilty. You shouldn't feel like you can't talk about your parents around us. Honestly, we are so glad that you've never had to feel that kind of pain that we have, and we hope that you never have to experience that anytime soon. It's okay to talk about your mom or dad around us, yes sometimes it will be hard for us because we do miss our parents and some days are harder than others, but you shouldn't have to feel guilty because you still have your parents, and if we ever make you feel like that then we are so, so sorry.

But, we do have a word of advice for you,

Don't ever, ever, take them for granted. Nothing hurts us more than to see someone who still has their parents complain about them. Nothing hurts more than seeing someone who's dad is still alive say that they hate him. We need you to understand that yes, sometimes parents suck, and yes, your parents may not be the best and it's a difficult situation, but we need you to recognize that you still have time. You still have time to make memories, where for those of us who have lost our parents, our memories eventually stop. We want you to realize that you still have an opportunity to pray and see your relationship with your parent restored, yet for those of us whose parent has passed away, we ran out of time. We can't go back and fix it.

You still have time and you're wasting it.

This isn't being said to make anyone feel guilty or afraid. That is not our intention at all. This is being said because we want you to realize that you still have time, and that you're blessed to still have your parents around. We don't want you to feel guilty around us but to realize how happy we are for you, we wouldn't wish this kind of grief on anyone.

Appreciate your parents today, tell them you love them.