The Way Home
Why I still save paper receipts I do not know
other than they are pages from our book of living.
I bought fourteen gallons of mid-grade gas Monday
so we could drive to Denver to enjoy hamburgers
and then shop for ripped-up blue jeans. All of this
is stored in my memory banks but should something go
haywire, go horribly haywire so I missed my trains
of thoughts these black and white slips serve as fragile
cairns so presumably a man could find his way home.
cairns so presumably a man could find his way home.
“You and me chasing paper,getting nowhere,on our way home
We’re on our way home,we’re goin home
The Beatles 2 of us
Mike, that sounds about right! Hope you are well.
Love it… wish I could send you a picture of our computer desk at home…
Thank you!
I think that’s why I hold on to so many things – the things, the stories they represent. I forget to trust that they’re carried withing me as well and I need those physical reminders.
Kelly, yeah, I hold on to ’em too…pretty tight.
“The Way Home” is great!! Right where we live.
Lindsay Lindsay Terry 169 Lions Gate Drive St. Augustine, FL 32080 Phone 904-461-9113 http://www.lindsayandmarilynterry.com lindsay976@earthlink.net
Thanks, Lindsay.
As empty nesters we’ve been rearranging “home.” I’ve cleaned closets and boxed up keepsakes. I’ve organized the stacks of receipts and important papers in the “office” (junk room) and it has been an archeological dig of our families life. I’ve shed more than a few tears over tiny shoes and school pictures and craft projects from Sunday School. But the receipts……remembering the small daily events when our house held 5 instead of two has brought memories of the richness of our family life. It’s never in the big things. Its life together day by day. Thanks for sharing.
Hi, Kim. Thanks for stopping by. Yes, it is the small, isn’t it?
It’s so odd, I was just cleaning out my dresser and saw a whole bunch of receipts for food, gas, and all sorts of things. I thought to myself, “if someone else took all of these and wrote down where I was at what date and time, what I bought, and how I paid, what sort of image could they create of me as a person?”
Great poem. Your work is consistently enjoyable to read and very accessible.
Thanks very much, John.