Keeper.....a valuable lesson.

The author is unknown, but the lesson says it all.


I grew up in the ‘60's with practical parents. A mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it again. 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 were focused. Their best friends lived a waive away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress. Dad had the lawn mower out and a dish towel around his neck. It was a time for fixing things, no matter what it was - a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, a cabinet, the screen door, the oven door or the hem of a dress. We fixed everything - all the things we keep. That was the way of life. At times, I remember it would drive me crazy. I would think, why can’t we (just once) be wasteful? All the fixing and renewing. But I realized that waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew that there’d always be more.


But then, one day, my mother died. On that clear summer’s night, in 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 holds true for all things like marriage, old cars, children with bad report cards, dog/cats with bad hips, aging parents and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it and 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 in life that make life important, including the people we know who are special. And we tend to keep them close. I received this from someone who thinks that I am a keeper and so I’m sending it to you to remind you that you are a keeper too. Remember the keepers in your life because those you love (friends, siblings, parents, etc.), are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there.