I grew up 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. Their best friends lived barely a wave away.. 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 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….. 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. 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…….. and so, we keep them close!
Oil of Olay moisturizer. I have had dry skin since I was in my 20's. Now that I am in my 60's.....Oy! I have always used some type of Oil of Olay moisturizer. I am now using the Age Defying creams, and like them alot. Oh, and Chap Stick under
ReginaLove, that is SO great to hear! As for soy, it may help with menopause symptoms -- it it controversial. The best way to use soy is in the form of whole fermented soy foods (miso, tempeh, tamari and natto). Non-fermented soy foods such as soy mi
Agreed. I never thought I was vain until I had a mastectomy at age 39. I was devastated and told the doc I wanted to wake up with implants. Now at age 60, I am lopsided and wondering if I was just avoiding the inevitable. You get what you get and you
Sounds very interesting.
God love you and God bless you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPTOY8FrvNw
Sweet Lynnette. I needed this . . . just to remind me. -dyna
Hi Lynnette:
Your post reminds me so much of my mother. We all say she was the original recycle lady. We took Christmas cards every year after Christmas, cut them up and made gift tags for the following year before we put them away.
My mother drove a jeep many many many years before SUV’s becamea way of life. An old jeep, because she sold real estate and sold farms and cottages, and she could just head off across some country field in the jeep to show the acreage on these parcels of land.
We, all of us siblings, were taught to have our shoes shined every Saturday night, and to take them to the cobler when they needed repaired. My father owned shoes that were 30 years old and looked brand new.
When my mother died I inherited several huge boxes of old linens, laces, doilies, collars, all taken off old dresses and carefully folded away in tissue paper. My sister & I sold it all on Ebay to raise funds for my sisters trip to New Zealand. We sold those fine laces for hundreds of dollars.
We swam in the river, and our most beloved possession was an oversized inner tube from a construction site my father brought home. We used it for years in the river, and the whole village remembers that tube. We could get 10 kids on it. What great memories.
So true, thank you for saying it so beautifully!
DEAR GIRL — YOU PULLED A FEW HEART STRINGS THERE!!! THANKS — A VERY CLEAR VEW OF WHAT ‘END’ MEANS. THANKS AGAIN.