To Keepers, To all those I love
It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that fixing, the repairing, reheating, renewing. Just once, I told myself, I wanted to be wasteful.
Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there would always be more.
Then my father died, and on that cold autumn morning in the chill of his room, I was struck with the pain of realizing 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 is best to love it and care for it; fix it when it is broken and heal it when it is 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, and on and on.
We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it. Some things we keep.
Like a best friend that has moved away or a classmate we never wanted to leave, or a new friend.
There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special. Actually, everyone is special, and so we should really try to keep them close.
Years ago I received something like this from someone who thought I was a ‘keeper’ and then I sent it to the people I thought of in the same way. And today, on this special day of love and friendship, while cleaning out files, I found this, and remember how I felt back when my special someone told me I was a keeper, how I smiled, and how today I was glad that I had not thrown it away.
If you are reading this and know someone who fills your life with love and laughter, the ‘keepers’ in your life, tell them so.
