Nothing Lasts Forever...

Or so they say. But this bright red colander comes close. My best friend gave it to me when my first child was born, twenty-nine years ago. No, it wasn’t because she thought I should make some postpartum salad. Rather, she had read somewhere that a plastic colander made a great toy for a toddler, and she was right. My son played with this useful item for several years (once he was old enough to figure out how to sit in it, drum on it or roll it around), before it became the colander I regularly use in my kitchen. Yes, twenty-nine years and still going strong... now that’s a colander!

            So I sort of take issue with that old “nothing lasts forever" line. Sure, I suppose one day the colander will crack, but I’m pretty sure my friendship with my beloved F (I will not divulge her full identity as a measure of my loyalty) will last until we breathe our last breaths (and, like many friends, we have plans to meet in the afterlife, where we will not be distracted by things like laundry needing to be washed or writing deadlines that interfere with our plans to get together). Yes, I’m quite sure that true friendship is one of those things that last, no matter what.

            And then, there’s love. Yes, I know love changes, transforms, transmutes and sometimes just plain disappears (especially between lovers and husbands and wives—just look at the divorce figures). But mother love—love from a mother for a child—lives on and on and on. My mother loved her children as much (if not more) on the day she died as she did on the days upon which we were born. And I, like so many mothers I know, will love my three children until the day I leave the planet (and hopefully, beyond).

            So there’s even more proof that some things do last forever. And what about the sun? The planets? The sky? Yeah, I guess one day they might all explode…but for the foreseeable future (unless we do something really stupid), I believe they’ll be there.

            I’m sure there are more things, too. Not everything has to wear out or break. Not everything has to become obsolete, unfashionable, or useless. Some things, like my red colander and the friendship it represents, are indestructible. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and yes, there are still a few treasures that will be with us until the end of time.