To My Better Half....

This is an email I received today. Seems fitting for the occasion:
I know someone who grew up in the 40's/50's with practical parents.

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...

A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones.
Their marriage was good, their dreams focused.

I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress -- lawn mower in one hand, and dishtowel in hers. 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 father died, and on that clear spring morning, in that 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..... And dogs 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.

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special. And so, we keep them close.
Happy 4th Anniversary, Honey. Thank you for your love, support, and for bringing out the best in me. I'm keeping you.