Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now.

My dad in trousers, tee shirt, and hat and my mom in a housedress, a baby in one arm and dishtowel in the other. It was the time for fixing things - a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, a screen 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, 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 with bad hips, aging parents, aging siblings and grandparents...good friends who live near...or a friend who moved away. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it. There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special.

Treasure the “keepers” in your life, and keep them close!