I am passing this on to all the "keepers" in my life......
I grew up with practical parents who had been frightened by the Great Depression in the 1930's. 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, before it was fashionable, or politically correct....A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones.
Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barley 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, dish towel in the other. It was the time for fixing things: a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven, a hem in a dress. Things we keep.
It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy! All that repairing & renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there would always be more.
But then my father died, and on that cold fall night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't anymore.
Sometimes what we care about 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 old friends...and children with bad report cards...and lonely neighbors...and dogs and cats with bad hips...and aging parents & 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...Like a beloved family member, no matter how close or far away. Those are the things that make life important...people we know who enrich and bless our lives, those who participate in making precious memories with us...ALL those we love.
I think of you in this way, you are my "keepers".
Good friends are like stars...You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.
2 comments:
It's true! even though we don't see each other often, I hope you know I'm always there...even if i am old and crumbled up like the aluminum foil:)
I loved how it was put in a movie-I can't remember which one at the moment,it's that old fading memory...something like...every wrinkle and line is from an experience or memory that has left it's mark on us, we wouldn't be who we are without all those experiences, So every wrinkle should be cherished and loved. We'll see when I am full of them,and much wiser, right now I just start to panic! :)
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