When it comes to venting our frustration and anger, we Jamaicans nuh skin teeth; we talk up the things straight, hard and ugly!

If you're a driver, try cutting off another motorist or lingering for like more than half a second at the traffic light after it turns green and see how quickly a multi-layered, cloth-covered verbal onslaught gets unleashed upon you, chock-full of graphic descriptions of your mother's anatomy. When it comes to expressing disgust and displeasure we don't hold our tongue.

Somehow though, we're not so ready with articulation of positive feelings or expressions of deep affection. When it comes to sharing the nice pleasant feelings and talking the mushy things, we hold it in and keep it bottled up inside until something really major occurs like death or other departure, then it comes out in an unprecedented and uncontrollable explosion of emotion. Maybe that's partly why the mourning and bawling get so ugly and extreme when somebody dies for some of us; we really never got or took the chance to say the nice things!

Hey, when last you tell somebody yu love dem? When was the last time you visit, text or call, or message somebody on BB just to say you appreciate their love and loyalty? When last an old friend link you, and before he or she can even say howdy, you just start gushing with spontaneous expressions of the gratitude you feel for the comfort of their continued friendship? I did it to a friend of mine yesterday and it left her speechless for a while, but she was deeply touched. I must do it more often. And I encourage you to do it too.

My biggest regret in life, if I were to admit to having any regrets, is the feeling that I really don't spend enough time telling the people I love that I love them. I also don't put enough effort in keeping in touch with some of my oldest and dearest friends from way back when. Yeah, I think about it a lot, and then get distracted with work. And I do try to do it often, but I still don't think I do it enough. So I'm usually burdened with guilt because I feel I get too caught up in the business of work and travelling, so much so that I don't give enough time to spending more quality time with my family and friends - especially my real old friends who as Oprah puts it 'don't just see my glory, they know my story'.

So if any of my old friends are reading this I'm taking this chance to say I'm truly sorry for not keeping more in touch, but I want unnu know say mi love unnu same way. Yeah guys and gals, I do love you! People like Duane Coombs in NY or Jossett Simpson and Keisha Smith in Kingston or Yvonne Brown and Skull in Ontario. Nuh watch nuh face, mi love unnu. And my friends like Suzie P, Marie Francis, and the Campbell family. And my newest godson RJ and my god-daughter Krishae, mi love unnu same way! And you my cousin Pauline Dillon, one day, one day. And all the people who reading this now and saying 'how him nuh call my name?' Ah unnu mi love di most!

box-mi-back@hotmail.com