7/26/02
7/26/02
Here is your Friday story
Some things you keep. Like good teeth. Warm coats. Bald husbands.
They're good for you, Reliable and practical and so sublime that to
throw them away would make the garbage man a thief.
So you hang on, because something old is sometimes better than
something new, and what you know is often better than a stranger.
These are my thoughts, they make me sound old, old and tame,
and dull at a time when everybody else is risky and racy and flashing all
that's new and improved in their lives. New careers, new thighs, new
lips,new cars. The world is dizzy with trade-ins. I could keep track,
but I don't think I want to.
I grew up in the fifties with practical parents -- a mother,
God bless her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then
reused it - and a father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than
buying new ones. They weren't poor, my parents, they were just satisfied.
Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. They stayed together
through thick and thin. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I
can see them now, Dad in trousers and tee shirt and Mom in a house dress,
lawn mower in one's hand, dishtowel in the other's.
It was a time for fixing things -- a curtain rod, the kitchen radio,
screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things you keep. It was a
way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, reheating,
renewing.
I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things
away meant there'd always be more.
But then my father died... and on that clear April day I was struck with
the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any 'more.' Sometimes
what you care about most gets all used up and goes away, never to return.
So, while you have it, it's best to love it and care for it and fix it
when it's broken and heal it when it's sick. That's true for marriage and
old cars and children with bad report cards and dogs with bad hips and
aging parents.You keep them because they're worth it, because
you're worth it.
Some things you keep. Like a best friend who moved away or a
classmate you grew up with, there's just some things that make life
important....people you know are special....and you KEEP them close!
Author Unknown
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