As the holidays come closer, I can't help but think about those who were gone way too soon. I had the opportunity to have 17 amazing years with one grandfather and 13 with the other. Unfortunately, they were lost during the holidays which is probably one of the happiest times of a person's year. Sometimes the loss makes the Christmas Days more blue than usual and the New Year more irrelevant to celebrate.

If you sat at the Thanksgiving table, rolling your eyes at fifth political argument of the day or at the ninth time you kissed your grandparents — remember there are people like me wishing I could have just one moment to hear their voice again. One of the things I've learned after losing the most influential people in my life was to take as much time out of your day to talk to them, to just hear them laugh or talk about their day one more time. Or even to smack their hand together and call you "babydoll" one last time (yes, I'm talking to you Pop).

You're busy — I get it. Believe me, I get it.

One day while you're holding your parents hand watching one of the saddest things happen to your beloved grandfather or mother you DO NOT want to wish that you could've done more. You DO NOT want to regret the last time you talked to them. The last thing I said to my grandfathers was "I love you so much." Something that's so easy to say, but means so much to them. You don't want to regret the one time you could've called to thank them for your present or even regret the time you sat across the room to avoid the long conversations on Christmas.

Sometimes your family means more than your friends or a quick beer.

I've come to the tough decision on whether going out with friends meant more than spending an extra hour with my grandparents. Let me be the first to tell you that no, your friends are young, you have more weekends with them than you can imagine, but you'll never ever get the chance to have that extra hour with them to hear their silly jokes like about the tootsie rolls outside on easter or how "you're the most beautiful girl in the world" or even their famous catch lines like "thank you so kindly," or "consequently" and "when are you going into the convent"?

Man, what I would do to hear that one more time....

Take as much time as you can to appreciate them, you'll never get that chance again. I'm sorry, it's pretty harsh but that's the only thing that kept me from going out with friends over sitting down and hearing them talk about their "magic box" or about their "father's father." Tell them you love them as much as you can because I regret not telling them enough.