Keepers : Keeping Friends and Memories - author unknown but wise….
KEEPERS
I grew up in the forties with practical
parents -- a Mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it. She was the original recycle
queen, before they had a name for it... A Father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones.
Their
marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers,
tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, dishtowel in the other.
It was the time for fixing
things -- a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep.
It was a way
of life, and sometimes it made me crazy.
All that re-fixing, reheating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful.
Waste
meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.
But then my Mother died, and on that clear
summer's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any
'more.'
Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return.
So...while we have
it...it's best we love it.....and care for it.....and fix it when it's broken.....and heal it when it's sick.
This
is true.....for marriage.....and old cars.....and children with bad report cards.....and dogs with bad hips.....and aging
parents.....and grandparents.
We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.
Some things we keep.
Like a best friend that
moved away -- or -- a classmate we grew up with.
There are just some things that make life important, like people we
know who are special.....and so, we keep them close!