This Old Man's Heartbreaking Story About Losing His Wife Will Make You Tell Everyone You Love Them

I'm home visiting my family in California right now, which means — you guessed it — my mom is really annoying me. OBVIOUSLY, I love her to pieces, and she's hands down one of the most accomplished, loving, and all-around wonderful people I've ever met. But I've forgotten what it can be like outside of my current autonomous paradise of life in New York City. So, yeah, we've been bickering a lot, but after reading one Twitter user's story about an old man losing his wife, I had to set aside all the dumb bickering over whether or not I made my bed yet to pull her aside and tell her how much I love her.

What's this story about an old man losing his wife I speak of? Well, let me give you some backstory. A pharmacy technician named James Morales posted a thread on Twitter about a recent heart-wrenching encounter he had with a regular customer. The regular customer was an old man who would usually come into the pharmacy a few times a week with his wife to pick up their medication. The two were clearly very in love, even after all these years of marriage to each other. But a couple of days ago, the old man came into the pharmacy without his wife by his side.

I'll spare you the spoilers, and let you read the rest of the story for yourself here:

All right, here's where your heart starts melting, you guys.

Here's where things take a turn for the depressing.

Here's where things really start to get sad.

She was his BEST FRIEND, you guys.

And now, thankfully, a turn for the more inspiring.

Finally, the old man left James with some major words of wisdom.

Tell me you aren't sobbing right now. OK, IF YOU'RE NOT SOBBING, YOU'RE NOT A REAL HUMAN BEING WITH A SOUL. Or maybe you're not sobbing because you didn't really read every single tweet in the story. That's fine, spare yourself the tears. But let me give you a little Cliff-Notes version.

This old dude was married to his best friend, and one night, she died. The last thing he said to her was "goodnight sweetie." After she passed, he went to the pharmacy where he usually went with her to return her unused medication. And just to drive this point home, here are his words of wisdom that he had to share with the pharmacy staff he and his wife had grown so close to after so many years for you to look at one more time:

Take that golden nugget, print it out, and hang it on your wall.

It's not novel advice. In fact, you've probably heard it a million times before. But it's one of those pieces of advice that you don't really realize is so true until you have a real-life experience that makes you wish you listened to all those people before.

So... DON'T WAIT FOR THAT EXPERIENCE TO COME ALONG FOR YOU. Don't wait until it's too late to tell the people you love how much they matter to you. Pick up the phone right now and shoot them a quick text. If you have time to read this article, you have time to do that.

I know, I know, I KNOW, you guys. I sound like a cheesy episode of Seventh Heaven, but sometimes, the wisest pieces of advice are cheesy. I mean, you have to think about what makes them cheesy in the first place: usually that you've heard it a million times before. But why have you heard it a million times before? Well, I would venture to say that's because it's true.

SO LISTEN TO THEM. TAKE A BATHROOM BREAK. CALL YOUR MOM. TELL HER YOU LOVE HER. Or, like, call your significant other if that's what you're into.

Check out the entire Gen Why series and other videos on Facebook and the Bustle app across Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

Check out the “Best of Elite Daily” stream in the Bustle App for more stories just like this!