"Dont have regrets."
My 90 year old father is in the hospital and things are not looking great. A bad UTI is not responding to antibiotics like it should and he is in and out of delirium. Our relationship has been difficult at times. Nothing major, but we have different outlooks on life and often have not been on the same page. That said, I love him fiercely and try to do my best to help him. Having lost my mother and my SO in the past two years, he's the last link to the only world I know.
Today I took him by the hand and said, "I apologize for being so hard to get along with. I wish I had done better. I love you." He smiled and said, " don't have regrets. I love you too." Then he squeezed my hand and held on to it a long time.
Whatever happens, that is a gift I will hang on to.