The Legacy I will pass down

Last week we were re-arranging our living room because my brother had given us his used big screen TV and we needed to make room for it.   In doing this, we had to take out everything from the bookcases in order to move them around.  I became extremely irritated in the process and I kept asking myself what was wrong with me.  I then realized that I was thinking of all the things that I had to sell when we lost our house.  I had a whole china cabinet filled with crystal, unique glasses in sets and plates.  I must have just taken one out of every set to keep for myself because I now owned a bunch of single glassware all mis-matched.

It became very apparent to me that I had buried how upset I was at getting rid of all those "things".  You know, I shouldn't be so concerned with "things".  Trying to figure this out, I also realized that I had collected all those "things" for years and years always thinking that it would all be passed down to my kids.  This was all the legacy that I would leave and now it was just a bunch of mis-matched glasses!  I was just very sad about this.

I was telling this to my brothers' girlfriend and she listened to me very patiently.  When I stopped with my sob story she grabbed my shoulders, looked me in the eye and told me about the legacy she observed that I would be passing down to my children.  She told me that the wisdom that I have been blessed with that is filled with love, integrity and compassion is the legacy that I will pass on to my children and that those gifts are something that will never be sold, broken or stolen.  These gifts will be passed on no matter what happens in my life!  I thought about what she said, I realized that she was right!  I felt so much at peace!

The experiences that I have been through in my life most people would cringe about!  From the world's point of view, I have had a pretty shitty life.  But buried under all that "shit" is gold.  It isn't the kind of gold that you can trade in for money, but the kind that can not be lost and the value can not depreciate.  The experience of what I have been through and all the lessons that came along with it, quite simply, have no monetary value.  However, I have quite the legacy to hand down to my children and all the generations that come after!