[StBernard] Keeper

[Westley Annis]

Keeper


I grew up with practical parents who had been frightened by the Great
Depression.  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, and 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.  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 repairing,
eating, reusing, 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 spring night, in the warmth of
the emergency 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...old cars....children with bad report
cards...dogs and cats...aging parents and grandparents...AND friends.  We
keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.  Some things
we keep. 


There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who
are special...so, 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 who are 'keepers' in your
life.  Send it back to the person who 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.  Keep them close. 

 

Rena