Leaving the Room

I ran across this line. The quote is from Meryl Streep speaking at Nora Ephron's memorial service:

“But sometimes you have to wait until your friend leaves the room to say how great she is,” she said, “because she absolutely would never put up with any of this if she were within earshot.” (From this article)

Though I am not all that old yet, I have had far too many friends and family leave the room. To them my words of gratitude and love will go unspoken. I like to hope that they knew what they meant to me.

But this line made me wonder if we let those we work with know how great they are before they leave the room - whether it is leaving for college or heading down a new path in life. Do we let our volunteer leaders know, regularly, how great they are? Do we find ways to authentically affirm the greatness of the youth? Do we show young adults their unique greatness?

Before someone leaves the room, how can you let them know how great they are?