a keeper ...

[MORTARDUDE]

Dear Keeper:

I grew up in the fifties with practical parents --
A Mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil --
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, dish towel in the other.

It was the time for fixing things -- a curtain rod,
the kitchen radio, the 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. I wanted just once
to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence.

Throwing things away meant 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!


Now send this to all those people that are "keepers" in your life...like

you!!!

[Jerry D]

A great story, Thanks