It’s sad, but you never know when these 15 special moments will happen for the last time

As the old saying goes, there is a first and last time for everything. The sad thing is that while we often recognize when we are doing something for the first time, we usually don’t know we’re doing something for the final time until much later.

You can only move forward in life, and sometimes, when you look back, you remember people, places, and things you will never experience again.

It can be depressing to realize that you will never have specific experiences again or didn’t fully appreciate them when they happened. But it’s also an invitation to embrace everything you have in your life right now that one day will end.

A Redditor named OK-Reporter-8728 posed a question to the AskOldPeople subforum that got many people thinking about the last times in their lives. “What’s something most people don’t realize they will never experience again in life?” the Redditor asked. The responses were a mix of bittersweet memories people shared about the last time they enjoyed the joys of childhood or spent time with a loved one.

They also discussed that they never fully appreciated it when their bodies were young, strong, and beautiful or when they were parents of young children.

Here are 15 things people didn’t realize they will never experience again.

1. Last time that you played with your friends

“Like when they live across the street and you go over to knock on the door and her mom comes to answer and you ask, can ______ come out to play? Sure you can text and call people and drive over and pick them up and go do something, but it’s not the same as asking their mom if they can come out to play.”

“I don’t remember my last time playing with friends, but this one makes my heart ache. Whenever I watch ‘Stand by Me,’ the last scene when Gordie is watching all his friends walk away as you hear how their lives turned out makes me tear up every time.”

2. Last call from a parent

“Mine was a voicemail, so I still have it since 5 years ago, and I will never delete it. Mom called to say she thought she was having a stroke.”

“I was the last family member to speak to my dad before he passed from cancer. Spoke to him on the phone for 20 minutes one night and he was gone the next morning.”

3. Pain-free movement

“Enjoy your healthy young bodies while you can, because they do not last forever, no matter how well you take care of yourself.”

4. When time is unlimted

“The feeling that time is unlimited. You reach a certain age and you realize that though you don’t know what’s left, a lot of the sand in the hourglass must be gone.”

“I’m 70. My dad died when he was 84, same with his father, so I’m anticipating my last year on earth will be 2038. And yes, when I was young I felt eternal and invincible. No longer. The clock is ticking and every morning I wake up, I’m grateful for another day.”

5. Last time you pick up your child

“One day you will pick up your little boy/girl and carry them l for the very last time. Broke my heart when I heard it cause I realized it was true and I couldn’t remember the last time I picked up and carried my now 24 yr old son. The night of my daughter’s 13th bday, I decided I would pick her up and carry her to bed for the last time in my life. That way I would always remember it. Afterwards, I ran to my room and cried in the bathroom. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

“They say by the time your kid goes away to college, you will have spent 90% of the time in your life you will ever spend with them. Even typing that makes me cry – the two people I love more than anything in this world and my time with them on this earth is basically over. And I am only 50 years old. Makes carpool days of long ago seem so much more important than it seemed at the time.”

6. Picking up kids from school

“Dropping off and picking up my kids from school. When the last time happens, you don’t realize it,and that’s sad.”

“They will never be as young as they are today. Your body and experiences will change you. Innocence will be lost and you will realize that sometimes ignorance really is bliss.”

7. Last time you hugged your parents

“I will never get to hug my mom or my dad again. Even tho it’s something I realize, it’s still a little hard to believe.”

8. Making out with someone new

“I was just thinking about this the other day.’Honeymoon period/new relationship energy hormones are extremely unique and as far as we know, impossible to truly replicate in a long term relationship, even a happy one with great sexual chemistry. The drug addicted feeling that makes teenagers cry and artists create is very specific. And best case scenario, in a happy death-till-us-part marriage, it’ll never come again.”

9. The beauty of your 20s

“When I see old photos of myself, I think of what I could’ve done better if I’d had the confidence that I have now. I have no regrets, life is what it is, but to have had the confidence and be handsome and fit… My partner says I’m more handsome now though so I don’t dwell on it.”

10. Going to the park

“The last time you take your kids to the park to play. I loved seeing them so happy and making friends at the park. Then one day they just don’t want to go anymore.”

11. Kissing dad

“Kissing your father if you’re a boy. I don’t remember the last time I kissed him, but I vividly remember the last time I almost did. I was leaving the house one day when I was around 13. I kissed my Mom as I usually did. I then turned to my Dad and started to kiss him. He prepared to receive my kiss. But then I caught myself. I smiled sheepishly, patted his face, and turned and left the house. I never kissed him again after that day.”

12. Seeing without glasses

“Yes. The time I could read the smallest of print by simply focusing my eyes on the subject.”

13. Summer anticipation

“Joy of summer vacation with nothing to do but hang out with friends all day and have other people feed you every meal and pay for nothing. That sweet last day of school. Few joys in the world compare to the exhilaration and possibilities of the upcoming summer.”

14. Feeling close to someone

“At this stage in my life, after losing my wife to small cell lung cancer two years ago, I realize that I may never feel intimacy with a partner again. I know it’s possible to meet someone new after 70, but I can’t see that happening again for me. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but I guess that’s just life. You get old and things of your youth are long gone.”

15. The last time seeing a friend

“The last time you see an old friend that becomes an acquaintance once girls enter the picture. That even though they moved to another country, you assumed that you would see them again. And you hear that they died, and you’re not 100% sure that was the last time you saw them.”