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Things
We Keep
Author Unknown
I
grew up in the 40's &
50's 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,
and 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, and dish-towel
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, eating, 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!
*****
Good friends are like stars
... you don't always see them,
but you know
they are always there.
Keep them close!
Contributed
by
Karin Tymn
Defining
Moments
Archives
Copyright
© 2006, Jace Carlton. All International Rights Reserved.
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