Love Objects
This room is my long-lasting friend
it remembers me since I bought the apartment
when my only daughter
was about to have her first baby,
my first grandchild.
It was quite close to Caltech
where my son-in-law served as a professor,
close enough for me to baby sit the new born
and during his lunch break
bring his new baby to see her daddy.
That baby now is 22 years old
and out of all my rooms
I chose this one for my bedroom,
next to the balcony
with a view of the garden.
In that room I have a double bed
on which I used to put the baby
to change her diapers and take a nap
and later, I baby-sat three of them,
either separately or together,
they loved to jump on the bed
and laugh with great glee.
It became quite well used
and abused with their little feet.
As time passed by, they grew up
and I bought a new mattress, thinking
nobody would be jumping any more.
It was hard to give up my old friend
that mattress that held so many memories
so I sent it to the home of my grandchildren
where it continued to create new memories.
My three grandchildren are all young adults
and now the mattress is treated differently. Retired.
They still talk about their fun and love
for that patient and resilient old mattress
recalling a host of memories
from that love object.
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