We all leave a legacy



by Lynn Bowen Walker

For years I have said "I am going to write a book".  Encouraged by friends who maintain blogs and a cousin who published a book before starting her blog: http://queenofthecastlerecipes.blogspot.com/, I decided there was no time like the present!

When coming up with a name, I decided on "Leaving A Legacy".  Somewhere in my core I have had the understanding that we all leave a legacy, regardless of whether we intend to or not.  Once we get to be a certain age, there are generations following us.  We might be a parent, an adult, or a big brother/sister setting an example for a younger sibling.  We all have a circle of influence.

Why do I feel so strongly about this?

I think my grandfather had very strong feelings about family, and while I was only 12 when he died and I did not understand the legacy he was leaving behind, it impacted me later.

Second, my mother passed away when I was 35 and my father followed her 13 months later.  Their lives and legacy spoke volumes to me, and at the age of 36, I became the older generation.

Last, I married later in life to someone who had three daughters and a grandson.  In one day I became a wife, a step-mother and a grandparent.  I understood there are generations following me who will be part of the legacy I leave behind. 

To quote my grandfather "Maybe a hundred years from now some descendents will feel as we do now, that not many things are more important to us than our ancestors.  The circumstances and conditions that molded them and the decisions which they made in their day has so much to do with who we are and where we are in our day. The 'genes' we inherit from them determine to a large degree our hopes for long life and for natural good health of mind, body and spirit.  Then too, what was bred into our hearts by parents and grandparents in our childhood so greatly determine our hopes for eternal life in that which follows this."

May I be a blessing to others and breed hope into the hearts of those I touch.