Some Things You Keep

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 still does.
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.
Their best friends lived
barely a wave away.

I can see them now,
Dad in trousers and tee shirt
and Mom in a housedress,
lawnmower 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.

Some 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 autumn night,
in the chill of the hospital room,
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 that 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 ~