Every time I visit my parents, I return with a piece of their lives. It’s a little disquieting. Pictures. Other collectibles and memorabelia. The family silver service.

Throughout the house, Mom has tags on things — a chest of drawers for my sister, my father’s childhood portrait, taken when he was the age Sarah is now (that one’s for me).

It’s a lbit sad, really. Obviously, I’d much rather have them around for the next several decades than to take hold of their most precious possessions, one shrimp fork at a time. And yet, if pressed, I’d have to admit there is something …. two things, actually … that I’d really like to have. They’re in Dad’s workshop, so I doubt they’ve been tagged yet.

Dad has two little signs posted above his workbench, reminders of his days in the Air Force and National Guard. They read:

“We the unwilling, led by the ungrateful, have done so much, for so long, with so little, that we can now do the impossible with nothing.”

And right next to it:

“Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick any two.”

Can you relate to this?