Brett

###I kept it all these years. That symbol of family togetherness. It had disappeared and reappeared over time, migrating from dusty attics to the backs of closets and cabinets. I kept it like I kept all those vacation memories that it had been apart of.
###I remember Dad had smoked countless packs and clipped countless proofs of purchases to send in for that old thermos, the one stamped with his favorite brand. He was so proud when he got it in the mail, calling out to the rest of the house in his raspy voice, “See what smoking will get you?”
###A cheap thermos and a diagnosis of lung cancer, it didn’t seem like a fair trade looking back. But before the diagnosis, there were better years for us all and it seemed as time went on and I grew up, I began to appreciate things like that thermos and why it meant so much to my old man--The thermos that was as faithful on the first trip as it had been on the last.
###Anywhere we went it was always filled with iced tea or cool-aid, with enough to get us through nearly half the day at the race track at Watkins Glen when we went one year. Or only a few hours at Disney under the supernova summer sun of Florida the year after.
###I can almost still hear the contents sloshing around like they used to as I struggled to keep up with the rest of the family. I may have been the runt, but I was always eager to help out and carry it along. I suppose it was only natural that Dad had made a point to leave it to me in his will after he passed. "How funny ..." I remember thinking at the time. Though as I would hold the sturdy plastic in my hands and rotate it in my palms, I would remember those days when the family was together -- laughing and enjoying life in the best of ways. It was funny, and the small point of the thermos in the will kind of summed up the hard working, but always humorous nature of Dad.
###So I kept it all these years. I kept it along with the memories it could have carried like any liquid we used to pour from its spigot. Where is that old thermos now I wonder? I'll have to check my attic, my cabinets, maybe even ask my wife where it's disappeared to. Vacation time is right around the corner and with a good cleaning, it may just make it out of retirement. For old times sake.