About 1.5 years ago, I received an email out of the blue from a man who also had the last name of Sagara. It turns out he was a distant relative.

I kept putting off sending a response until his email eventually got buried in my inbox, and I forgot all about it. I happened upon it again this past July while cleaning out old messages, and I finally replied. I never heard back from him, and didn’t think much of it.

Today I received a response, but from his daughter (I presume). It turns out that he passed away in March of this year.

Well, f—.

Answer your emails, people. You don’t have to answer all of them, but definitely answer the important ones – and that includes messages from family.

RIP, Peter.