Cherish: To hold dear; to feel or show love for; to take good care of; to protect; to cling to the idea or feeling of….cherish. Webster’ New World Dictionary

At some point of the last few days, the word cherish came to my mind. It is not a word we use with regularity. It seems almost archaic but it is a good word. I have been taking stock of things I cherish. And so I ask: What do you cherish?

Most often we think of people we cherish…..spouses, partners, children, friends, parents and grandparents. We simultaneously love these people while caring for them, protecting them. People will say they cherish time with someone…they hold the time spent with the other as more than ordinary, it is sacred in some way. We also cherish memories of important life events, special birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, or other experiences that are ‘above’ other experiences in some way.

We also cherish things. As I look around my home, I see many things I cherish. Pictures of my children, gifts from my husband, my piano, my father’s watch he received at his retirement, several books, souvenirs from trips. The list is, of course, endless. It is endless because these ‘things’ we cherish often only have real value because they are associated with a meaningful relationship or an important life experience. The longer one lives, the more there is to cherish. 

I have a drawer in which I have tucked away many of the Valentine’s, anniversary & birthday cards given to me by those I love. I clean out that drawer perhaps twice a year. As I toss many things, send others to be resold, the place in the right hand corner of the drawer is always refilled with those cards. They date back several years and each time I clean the drawer I reread the notes. Some messages have lost their meaning over time but others I can read and be right back at that moment, that day, that year. My children’s newly formed letters, stick figures of their bodies and mine, large smiles marking our faces. A sweet poem written just for me or a note meant to cheer me up after an illness keeps me clinging to these faded pieces of paper…..cherished.

What things do you cherish? Or more importantly, what do you cherish that continues to remind you of those relationships, those important days and moments that give your life meaning and purpose?

……"Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life." (from Love after Love by Derek Wolcott)