Some time ago a friend said to me they wished they could hear so-and-so’s voice one more time. That sentiment stuck with me.

It’s one thing to look at photos, even to read what someone has written, but to hear her or his voice can be so much more powerful.

That is why I have voicemails on my phone that go back to 2017. It’s a mixture of family and friends’ messages that have been saved. Most of these messages have been left by someone who is still alive, but not all. It’s comforting knowing their voices are just a couple clicks away. It’s not something I listen to with any regularity, it’s more like just seeing their name is enough.

Then there are the few work related voicemails that just might come in handy for some other reason, but that isn’t what this missive is about.

I need to go through these saved messages to listen to which ones I really want to keep, and which can be deleted. After all, I have several voicemails from the same people. I’d like to have a couple from each person whose voice I will want to hear once they have died. I know I don’t have a voice recording of everyone who means something to me, so I need to think about that going forward when they call. Maybe I should deliberately let it go to voicemail.

My collecting of messages has been rather random and not as deliberate as I’m making it sound. I suppose some recent life events have made me think about these more. They truly do bring me comfort knowing I have them.

We don’t know what life has in store for us, so a little planning for what will comfort us when someone is gone can’t hurt.