Share Who You Are While You Can....

(Originally Published 4 May, 2014)

“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.”   ― Thomas Campbell

I was listening to a speaker at National  History Day earlier in the spring talk about going through a loved one's belongings after they had passed.  As he dug through boxes and bags and stacks of books and papers, he realized that he did not really know who this person was.  He was holding history in his hands and was unsure how they connected to the person who owned them.

Don't let your children go through the same thing.  Talk to them while you are alive.  Tell stores of how it was when you were a child.  Talk to them about your teachers, and your favorite subject and the first person you had a crush on.  Talk to them about sitting together at the dinner table as a family, and laugh together about some of the witty sayings that your parents had.  "Thank the good Lord and pass the potatoes" was one of my favorites.

Give your children stories about you to pass on to their children.  You could even sit down and start writing your memoirs, a memory book that can be passed down.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something to give them a look inside your life before they knew you.

Share your stories, no matter how silly.  Memories of you is what will keep you alive for generations to come.