Say goodbye like you mean it. You don’t always know which goodbye is the last one.

Endings do not always announce themselves. Most of the last times in your life pass as ordinary times, and you only find out later which one it was. That is not a reason to live braced for loss. It is a reason to put a little more of yourself into the ordinary goodbye, because it costs nothing and occasionally turns out to have mattered a great deal.

Look up when you leave. Say the person’s name, mean the words, and let the goodbye take an extra three seconds. That works on parents, friends, coworkers, and people you will see again tomorrow.