Legacy

I have a card I love.  It's funny.  It says, "They say you must learn something new every day.  That's not true.  I don't learn something new every day; I even forget stuff some days."

This week was not one of those.  This week will go down as one of those weeks where I learned more than I wanted to. I cried more than I wanted to. I felt more than I usually do.  And it wasn't funny.

My sister-in-law lost her 23-year-old brother in a tragic car accident a week ago.  I didn't know him, but I know his family.  My sweet sister-in-law and my kind and loving brother.  Their kids.  Her mother.  All these people torn by grief and loss.  I was surrounded by sad young people who lost their good friend. 

I am a Relationships Person.  I genuinely love the people in my life, and I like to have conversations and spend real time with them.  I am absolutely facinated by people, and I want to learn how each of them work and why.  And, selfishly, I want to learn how I can affect their lives positively.  I am not perfect.  I am not always a good friend.  I hurt people, sometimes accidently, and sometimes on purpose.  Luckily, I believe in forgiveness as much as I believe in kindness, as do the many forgiving people around me.

You find you are made up of bits and pieces of all who have ever touched your life
and you are more because of them.

It sounds so cliche, but this week, more than any other, I am reminded that each of us are going to leave a legacy. At this man's funeral, it was so clear that he was kind and positive and affected each person he touched in a beautiful way.  And life is so unbelievably fragile.  I encourage you to dig deep and think about your legacy.  How you want to be remembered.  How you can affect lives around you and make the world a better place. 

Like I said, I didn't know Tyler.  But I still owe him a nod of thanks, for being such a great person and for reminding me to be one too, to the very best of my ability, and by the grace of God.

Be kind.