On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

I always thought that it was kind of weird that inanimate objects outlast and outlive the people that owned them. The other day I grabbed the shoeshine box that has been in my family forever to give my shoes a quick once-over before work. As I dug into the box, with its well-worn brush, pieces of torn facecloth applicators and an assortment of polish colors, I stopped to ponder about it. My dad bought this box back in the early 60’s Рthe box is still here and he’s gone.

The shine box is just one of the “things” that has lasted longer than the people who bought and used them. We all have stuff around the house that belonged to loved ones that are long gone. As a matter of fact, the tin of brown shoe polish still had the old faded price sticker on it Рit was from Bradlees! So in this case, not only is the person who bought it gone, but the store is gone as well!

It doesn’t seem fair that stuff outlasts people. It does, however, give me the opportunity to tie it into my daily life -during supper, I launched into the shoeshine box story: “You know, my father bought that shoeshine box back in 1960…” Rolling eyes indicated preparation for another “ back in the day” by dad story.

I think we all have lots of stuff around the house that has outlasted the purchasers themselves – and in some cases – the stores they came from. Does anyone still have his or her old BayBank card? I actually have a BayBank towel! I bet some of you still have an old phone with the little paper dial inserts. Remember the old exchanges? MOnument, SOmerset or PRospect? Of course you remember! Sure the old phones may still be around, but not the people who made so many calls on them over their lifetime. My mother (now in Heaven) used a phone like that to perhaps call Surabian’s Drug Store in Ball Square for some paregoric when I was teething (the empty bottle is probably still in the back of our medicine cabinet).

You would think by reading my stories that I live most of my life in the past, but I really don’t. Today I am happier than I have ever been in my life, but for some reason I am reminiscing about days gone by a lot more frequently. Maybe it’s because I really enjoy boring my kids with my tales of “when I was a kid”. Who knows.

It doesn’t seem fair that stuff outlasts people, but I’ll tell you this Рat least all the surviving artifacts keep our loved ones fresh in our memory.

So I am going to sit in Dad‚Äôs chair from Barbos, soak my feet in the ‚Äúfoot fixer‚Äù from Lechmere Sales and watch the Red Sox on my new  50‚Äù high definition TV.

Did I mention that I am happier than I have ever been in my life? Good.

You can email Jimmy with comments directly at jimmydel@rcn.com