Legacy

Last week I received a cheque in the mail … my portion of my late grandmother’s estate. 

It’s been a year since she passed away …

But she’s been “gone” much longer  (she suffered from dementia in her final years) … 

It seems this is really IT though now … all the loose ends are tied up, and she and my grandfather and their potential legacy are gone for good. A chapter closed … 

When I reflect upon my childhood and the time I spent with my grandma (and my grandpa), my heart is full. There wasn’t really anything overly spectacular about any of it …  in fact, it seems, it was the simplest of things that made our time together so special … 

• mini-pizzas and ice cream treats from the Schwann’s truck
• porridge with brown sugar for breakfast
• sleepovers (so … many sleepovers)
• road trips in the motor home
• picking cranberries
• checking cows
• insane bubble baths
• card games like Aggravation and Rummy
• crafts
• catching frogs
• picking flowers
• SEGA
• red shag carpet
• hay bale jumping
• The Bold and the Beautiful
• playing the piano
• more “surprise” road trips in the van
• Rolaids
• and, of course, scotch mints … 

I have so many sweet and simple memories of life with my grandma and grandpa … 

My grandpa left me at 15 … 20 years later, my grandma left …

Both have left a very special imprint on my heart … and for THAT, I am so grateful … 

I am ALSO grateful for the cheque I received … from THEM … knowing there is NOTHING that THIS money can buy that will FILL me up in the way that they filled ME … 

Legacy isn’t about stuff or material possessions or money … legacy is about the feeling you leave in someone’s heart … the memories you leave … the way you made people feel … the wisdom you impart … 

These two made me feel loved … and special … they would be proud of me and the life I’ve built … and they would ABSOLUTELY delight in my children … 

I wish they were still here … alive and well … for birthday parties, for fishing trips, for special family dinners … I wish they were still here … alive and well … to show my girls how to make a quilt, or how to knit, or maybe how to bake Danish bread.

But they’re NOT here anymore … 

I AM though … 

It’s up to ME then to honour THEIR legacy … 

In an effort to honour my grandparents (and after A LOT of careful thought and consideration of the BEST way to honour them), I have purchased a camper for our family … this will be BUT ONE way my grandparent’s legacy will live on … as a child, I camped and fished with my grandparents often …. sometimes, it was just overnight stays with siblings or cousins in the motorhome in their yard, sometimes it was up to The Hills, and sometimes it was a longer adventure, like the time we drove all the way to Thompson, Manitoba. As a child, I also camped with my own family … my heart is full of so many wonderful camping memories … as a child, as an adult, and as a mother … 

I want to give this same gift of fond memories to my children … THIS camper will be a part of the legacy that I leave … 

I really think my grandparents would approve …

THANK YOU, GRANDMA! THANK YOU, GRANDPA! 

Thank you for this GIFT, but a million times MORE IMPORTANTLY, thank you all the sweet memories of you both that I’ll hold in my heart forever … 

Love Leanne