Evidence of a year well lived hangs on a unique clothes-pinned-wire woven frame of a thing in my office. Collected over the course of the year there are thank you notes that are formal and scribbled and published and printed. Clippings from the local paper, snapshots, and handmade tokens and scraps of the everyday deemed important.
Thank you notes are the best indicator of how you’re doing in life. They are concrete evidence of a kindness extended or a task completed with perfection. They represent appreciation. They always catch me by surprise.
Small hand written envelopes are pulled from the mailbox with utter joy. I always open them up then and there and read the contents on the way back to the front door. It is becoming more and more unusual for people to take the time to write notes. When one arrives thanking you for the smallest of good deeds you truly realize your value. You realize you’re on the right path to creating your legacy.
Birthday cards are another confirmation of your value, some silly, some snide but well intended and some sent directly from the heart. I know the person sending it agonized over the myriad of cards and maybe shed a tear or two in the aisle. I’ve done that, I’ve purchased those cards for the people that I would surely die for and have stood in the aisle flooded with emotion. I treasure the people who have done that for me.
Snippets of recipes found in the paper, renditions of me made by my niece CJ, upcoming events I should know about sent by email, clippings of me and my little rescues found in the local paper heralding our fundraising efforts. Three years running as Queens of the Carnivale!
Pieces of palm from Palm Sunday sent over from Mom to bless me. She prays and prays that one and I keep telling her God is not unhappy with me. I think she’s actually starting to believe me. Doesn’t stop her from praying but I’ll take all the prayers she wants to send.
At the end of each year I pull them down one by one and recall the moment of its receipt and the act that brought it about. I settle into an afternoon of tea and reflection and solidify my new year’s resolution to live as if my legacy depended on it.
Then, I pack all the snippets into an envelope and throw the envelope into the big old hope chest that resides in my office closet. At some point someone will open it and find each year’s envelope. I know like I know that they, too, will settle into an afternoon of tea and reflection and they will know me through the remnants of documented good deeds.
Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.
Albert Einstein