Ode To the Memory Makers

Do you want to hear a story, perhaps an anecdote or two . . . There is a place to do it, when life caves in on you. There is a group of people who share their lives today . . . I found them only by happy circumstance, as I was traveling this way. They get together once a month, to tell tales of their past . . . Each one in their particular way have stories that will last. Each one could talk for hours on end, and there would be no lulls . . . For the times and places they have been, are etched upon their souls. Their pleasure in remembering is a joy to all who hear . . . We like to listen to the tales they tell, they give us all a cheer. The lives they have led, the people they've known, the places they've been to . . . Are celebrated with us each month, as if we'd been there too. The moments in time that in our hasty lives, we often will forget . . . Are cherished now as memories, especially the ones we seem to fret. Memories, I know, are not for us alone and need to be shared . . . Even the ones we don't want to think on, the ones that made us scared. The stories they share with us are not just a reason for rhyme . . . But I wanted each of them to know, how much I enjoy this time. Because of them, I have remembered so many things of my own past . . . Times that I'd forgotten, but have come back to me at last. The darkest corners of memory are brightened by their chat . . . I, for one, know I will always be grateful for that. Our thought are put in new perspective - even the darkest ones we save . . . But however dark and grim they are, as memories they behave. To all the MEMORY MAKERS present and past who grace us all this way . . . This rhyme is for you, "Thank You" for sharing your lives with us, past, present, and today.