The other morning I woke and realized that I forgot to finish off my “Talk to Danny” the way I had originally planned. I had intended to close with a special word of encouragement and ask all of you to say a special prayer for Congresswoman Juanita Millander-McDonald and her family. I even told one of the employees here at the paper that I had forgotten, however, at the time, I didn’t think it was a big deal, because I figured, I had next week.

Well, as you all know on Sunday, April 22, 2007 the Congresswoman passed away, and my chance to send her a special note and word of encouragement was lost. I did lift her up in prayer, but I was never able to let her know that my family and I were lifting her up.

I am sharing this with you, because we should all remember how short and crucial life really is. We all get caught up in our own hectic worlds, we run around a mile a minute with the idea that tomorrow we will carve some special time to let the people we know and love how they have enriched our lives.

Well, with this lost fresh in my head and heavy on my heart I just want to encourage all of you to take a moment and let the people you truly love know how you feel.

Please, take a little time out to laugh with your children, tell your parents thank you for what they have done in your life. Say to your sister or brother, I am proud of you! (no matter how crazy you might think they are). Let a grandparent or uncle share some family history with you, and tell your REAL FRIENDS how important they are in you life.

I have promised myself that I am going to do this, because life is too short and tomorrow really is not promised.

Let me know if you let someone know they are special in your life, or that you said a special prayer for someone, let me know if there are any other issues we need to address, or what other stories we need to tell, let me know what is on your mind. I really do want to hear from you, I want you to “Talk to Danny.”

Sincerely,Danny J. Bakewell, Jr.President & Executive Editor

PS. I really do appreciate everyone who has taken the time to share how you feel about my column (the good and the bad) and the paper overall since I started “Talk To Danny”. THANK YOU!