How to Say Goodbye When There's Nothing Left to Say

Advice column #33

1950s 1960s Little Girl Look At Turkey Sitting Between Grandmother Grandfather Saying Grace At Table (Photo by D Corson/Classicstock/Getty Images)

My grandfather is dying from cancer and his 80th and last birthday is coming up this Friday. We have not talked in years, not because we dislike each other but because we have nothing to say. Our lives are just too different to relate.

My father asked me to please call him and say something. I am dreading it because I don’t know what to say. Any idea on how to have the last conversation with a relative like that?