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 and Mum in a housedress, lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other.  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 relative we rarely see, a best friend that moved away, a classmate we grew up with, an ex colleague we worked alongside or a more recent friend via the internet !

These are just some of the 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.

Hope that you are included in my amended version of this 'not so silly' !