What we leave behind - trash or treasure?
What do you think you’ll leave behind? What’s your legacy? How will your family remember you? Leaving a legacy is an interesting thought process.
For starters, it might be a quick look in an armoire I have in the basement, full of photos, none organized, none in scrapbooks and many without any identification. So what do I think will happen to those photos when I’m not around.
Pictures are one thing. But really, it’s not the “things” we leave behind. It’s the thoughts, the memories, how we felt, what we valued. So this brings me to the idea of a legacy letter. Or as some refer to it, an ethical will. In fact, when I googled that phrase, there was all sorts of “help” on how to write one.
https://celebrationsoflife.net/ethicalwills/
I haven’t started mine, but it’s been on my mind right along with figuring out a way to sort out, categorize all those photos.
But boxes and boxes of stuff probably isn’t the answer to leaving a legacy. It needs to be meaningful and probably short! Reminder: less is more!
We have a lakeside cabin in Minnesota where every year our family gathers for a summer vacation. And every year our eldest daughter sorts through all the photos taken and gives us all a Christmas present photo book of the vacation. We’re getting quite a stack of them, and I never tire of looking at them. In fact, they get more precious every year.
A recent visitor to the cabin remarked how invaluable those booklets will be 35 years from now when the kiddos (by then adults) recall the memories brought forth by those books. Now that’s a legacy! Thank you, daughter.
Deciding what to do and how to do it can be tricky. What I value may not be what strikes a chord with family members coming after. That’s why it’s probably not so important to leave A LOT, but rather a few very important reminders of what you are/were and what was/is important to you.
My Dad was a man of very few words, but he was also the most important part of who I am today. His words, told to me one day when, as a young squirt acting a little uppity, were: “Kate, you’re no more important than anyone else, but no one’s more important than you.” I’ve probably repeated that 100 times to my daughters and grandchildren. A simple, yet very powerful statement. A legacy to be sure.
Be it thoughts, photos or whatever form, make it yours and make it count.