That Old Closet Door Poem by Jim Yerman

To look at it you’d never know it’s significance, you’d think it was nothing more
Than a silver knobbed, white, nondescript, skinny old closet door.

But as you turn that knob and open it your opinion might be modified
For that’s when you notice it’s true significance lies on the other side.

On the back of that door, for Deborah and I, is one of our most treasured sights.
It’s a history of our family recorded in our children and grandchildren’s heights.

Ryan makes the first appearance on the back of that old closet door
Four years before Deborah and I got together, in September 1984.

After Bryan, Ali and Ryan were grown all that door did was patiently wait
For the entrance of Damien, our first grandchild, his height recorded in 1998.

This was followed by Taylor in 2000, Aden in 2005 and Ava in 2008.
Today that door is covered in heights with their names and corresponding dates.

Every time the grandchildren visit, (a trait in them I adore) ,
In order to see if they’ve grown they race to that old closet door.

They stand with their heel agains it, I mark their height, then they turn and they holler
“Hey Mom, hey Dad, guess what, I HAVE gotten a little bit taller.”

It’s inevitable all children grow up; it’s not a matter of will they, but when
As proof Damien became taller than Nana in August of 2010.

And we’re not sure how, since we’re a short family, perhaps it was a gift from heaven
But Damien grew taller than all of us back in December 2011.

And Taylor is continuing the tradition for it seems abundantly clear
That he will be taller than Nana by the middle or end of next year.

(In truth that may not be as big an accomplishment as all of us might be thinking
For even though the grandchildren are growing up, Nana and I are now shrinking.)

I cannot open that door without smiling, and sometimes a tear falls from my eye
When I realize, as duly recorded, how quickly a lifetime goes by.

With the future around every corner, a future that’s moving so fast
This door is one way we have of holding onto and easily remembering the past.

We’ve lived 25 years in our little house and I imagine we’ll live here 25 more
But we have decided if we ever move, we’re taking with us that old closet door.