A KEEPER

[Guest guest]

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, working on the lawn mower, and Mom in a housedress, dish-towel in her

hand. 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........ Dogs and cats 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.

I received this from someone who thinks I am a 'keeper', so I've sent it to the

people I think of in the same way... Now it's your turn to send this to those

people that are 'keepers' in your life. Send it back to the person that sent it

to you if they too are a keeper.

Good friends are like stars.... You don't always see them, but you know they are

always there.