Recently I embarked on my
eightieth year as a separate human being. I never envisioned living this long,
but here I am, close to being an octogenarian. The time has come to consider
what legacy I will leave behind. What have I contributed to the world in all
these years?
As it happened, both of my
daughters wrote birthday greetings that answered my question. Nancy wrote:
Dear Mother,
I was thinking about my
favorite birthday party I ever had: it was when you took me and some of my
friends to a park and we all got busy playing in a stream. If only other
parents could understand the importance of getting their kids out into nature!
Thank you for giving me a love of the outdoors and for appreciating all living
things.
Next came a card from
Carol, who had just returned from a family camping trip:
Dearest Mom,
…Camping always brings back
to memories of camping with you, Nancy, Ozzie and sometimes Holmes and Candace.
I wonder how you had the energy to pack up the car nd drive for hours with
loud, argumentative children only to arrive at your destination and have to
pitch a tent, make a fire, and cook dinner. So much work! Well, it didn’t go
unappreciated. Nancy and I were fondly recalling such trips just yesterday.
Thank you for making the
effort to get us out into nature. The camping, gardening, gooseberry-picking,
morel mushroom-hunting – all of these activities helped foster my love (as it
turns out!) of nature and my deep respect for the environment.
So there it is, my legacy.
If I haven’t done another worthwhile thing, this is a sufficient legacy.
I had to laugh at Carol’s
parenthetical “as it turns out!” She was referring, I’m sure, to a time when I
took the children to the Baker Nature Preserve to pick wild gooseberries. As
Ozzie, Nancy, and I were picking gooseberries from their thorny branches,
mosquitoes swarmed around us. Carol refused to participate in the harvest, but
sat on a big rock, declaring, “I hate nature!” Thank goodness her attitude
changed.
Copyright
2014 by Shirley Domer
3 comments:
I love this post! Isn't it rewarding to see that you've had a positive influence when, at the time, it wasn't at all clear that would be the case?
Yes, we do have an influence on our children, sometimes to a comic effect. When our son Laird was hiding in a cold, damp foxhole in Kuwait in the First Gulf War, we told his mates, "Buck up, I've camped out with my parents in worse conditions than this".
And I hope to see other posts about people in your life who have learned other things from you. There are many more.
Love this post and the comments!
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