Leaving a Legacy

We all have something we want to pass on to people after us � a quilt, a recipe, an old cedar hope chest. I have those things, too. But my family taught me a long time ago the best things you can pass on are shared memories. I have lost both of my grandmothers during the past six years, and I miss them every day in different ways. But my grief is lessened by the wonderful memories I have in those little moments that come on rainy days. I�ll find myself saying how I should tell something to Grandma Marge � she�d love that! Or wouldn�t Grandma Jan be happy to know I�m taking the kids there? I�m so lucky to have had that time with all of my grandparents. Those moments, the little and the big ones � they�re their legacy more than any financial or material thing.

My family loves to travel around the U.S. and around the world. I was never a big traveler, but since having children of my own, I find myself wanting to create those shared memories. I traveled with my grandparents to Cancun when I was 10 and thought I was on top of the world. I ate cold cereal and bologna sandwiches out of an old metal green Coleman cooler while camping with my parents all over the U.S. I watched �The Golden Girls� and learned to sew curtains on my grandma�s couch during a week-long bout with the chicken pox. I was one lucky kid all the way around, and there aren�t enough pages to write all my wonderful memories. But now as a parent myself, I see these are more than just memories � they�re legacies, things I need to pass on.

My parents are amazing, and they�re doing some of that legacy-leaving with their own grandchildren. And my husband and I are working on taking each of our children on a special trip for a little one-on-one time that�s very hard to get in today�s crazy schedule. Because of this, I will leave that legacy of travel with my own kids. But I�ll also leave girls� nights out with queso cheese and cookie dough, piano concerts and puzzles, and letting the kids play hooky every once in a while just to have a mom-and-me playdate. Hopefully, when they�re parents, they�ll remember these times and make that their own legacy.

Things are just things, and money disappears. Legacies don�t have to be trips around the world or four-generation quilts. They�re letters, ice cream in the park, sitting on the porch or watching the stars. Legacies are shared smiles and rainy day memories. What legacy will you leave?