Standing on my Soap Box

I have been thinking about the legacy we leave, when we leave earth.

I need to give you a little bit of history before I get into my story, so please be patient

I am partially adopted (my mom is my biological mom, but you can be certain that my dad is my real dad, he just isn’t my biological one!)

Anyways, I met my Grandma and Grandpa Rempel when I was 3. What a family I was blessed with at 3, and my grandparents accepted me as their own immediately. We travelled from Winnipeg to Carrick every 2nd Sunday (the other Sunday, we went to Portage to my other grandparents.) I had fun out there. My cousin and I would play in their garage with Grandpa’s file wheel, or we would go to the church on their lot and pretend church,  and we just had a BLAST! As grandchildren we were all loved (OK we were all spoiled), and cherished, and taught about the things that grandparents teach their grandchildren.

Because of all the things Grandma and Grandpa did with us over the years we developed a great love and adoration for them. As I got older I would take trips with my grandma to visit my uncle in Southern Ontario and I’d sit with her and listen t her tell stories of her childhood, of her marriage in the early years. (There are things I know about my grandparents that others don’t.) I also know that Grandma was concerned for all of us. (When I was single and bought my first house, Grandma was  REALLY scared I was going to be a spinster for the rest of my life).

My grandfather, Jack Rempel, was a pastor of a church out in Carrick.In the summer my grandparents would have daily vacation bible school, and I would come out to spend a week with them and go to DVBS.

Now to get back to the legacy, I went to a viewing this past Sunday for a friend of my fathers who passed away. I met Ewald after we moved out to this area (I grew up in Winnipeg), but I have known some of his children since I was a child as we would go o DVBS together. As I heard stories at the viewing, I thought about my grandparents (they were from the same area as Ewald), and the stories we could have told about my grandparents, and it made me think…

What kind of story will be told at my funeral? Will I be remembered as a fun loving mom who would do anything for my children? Will I be remembered as the friend who would do anything for others? Will my husband think of me as the wife who loved him fiercely and unconditionally? Or, will I be remembered as opposite of those attributes I’ve just mentioned. I sure hope not.

My question to you now is, how will you be remembered? Better yet, how do you want to be remembered?  Your opportunity to make the positive memories has not yet passed you by, what will you do?