Former LFL National Office secretary, Deb Lakamp, forwarded these thoughts today. She wrote, “When I read this it reminded me of the precious gift of life and how we need to take care of it.”
A Keeper
Their marriage was good, their dreams focused.
Their best friends lived barely a wave away.
I can see them now,
Dad in trousers, work shirt and a hat;
and Mom in a house dress,
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, re-heating leftovers, renewing;
I wanted just once to be wasteful? Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there’d always be more.
But when my mother died, and I was standing in that clear morning light 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 who misbehave at times …
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 best friend that moved away
or a classmate we grew up with.
There are just some things that make life important,
Like people we know who are special …