Legacy

Today I attended the funeral of a sweet lady that lived near us when I was growing up. As I listened to the remarks made about her life, I started thinking about my own funeral. What kind of things will people say about me? What will be their memories of me? What will be the impact I have had on the lives of those individuals who come to celebrate my life once I have moved on? What will be my legacy? What is it that turns an ordinary life into a great one? I've heard it said before - many times, actually - that life is what is happening NOW. Each moment, each hour, each day, we are living our lives - we are becoming who we will be remembered as - we are either moving forward towards our goals, or falling behind. It's such a simple truth, yet how often do we let the moments, or the days pass us by while we wait for some future event - while we wait and dream about the things we will do ONE DAY? I do it all too often. I'll set aside a supply of emergency food when we have more room than our one-bedroom apartment we are living in. I'll spend more time teaching and reading to Antalya when she can understand me better. I'll call so-and-so tomorrow when I have more time. The list goes on and on. Why don't we stop waiting and start becoming the person we want to be now?

"I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present...because life is the moment we're living now." (From The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho)