Old Friends

Old friends, old friends

Sat on their park bench like bookends

A newspaper blown through the grass

Falls on the round toes

Of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men

Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sunset

The sounds of the city sifting through trees

Settle like dust on the shoulders of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today

Sharing a park bench quietly?

How terribly strange to be 70

Old friends, memory brushes the same years

Silently sharing the same fears

                                          - Paul Simon

I have some 'old friends' too! Just before my senior year in college I was taking a few summer classes before student teaching in the fall. My parents had moved from the area and I was staying with my former next door neighbor. My birthday was approaching. My sweet mom and arranged for the neighbor to pick up a sewing machine and a sewing box for my Birthday present.  I was definitely surprised. The gift was way beyond my expectations. 

I regret that I passed the machine on to a needy friend many years ago, but before that the machine worked with me on many projects. I loved it! 

I still own the sewing box. 

It's lost it's handle,

And inside, there are many sewing tools and notions from the past, 

as well as some of my newer tools. 

 

My mom had a knack for buying the perfect gifts for her children. 

Thanks, mom!