What is legacy?

What is legacy?

Let me give an example.

If today is the my last precious day here on earth, what is left of me? What is the legacy I have to offer my children, my students, my family but more importantly…how could I best honor my own life? How do I, Sara Taylor, wish to be remembered? What should be done with me?

My body will have physically left but the spirit of myself is left for wondering. I know this to be true…the legacy of myself has already been made. It is presented daily by my sheer existence of being human and how I connect with others. It is who I am. As for the rest, here are the steps for my departure…

Burn me up.

Make it simple.

And then, if people would like to honor me best…then lead them to my home. Open my house. Let them walk through and see what my life was about. It has been written in the paintings on my walls, the yoga mats  in the basement, the King size bed for my tiny body and a puppy dog (see below on how to handle my Blue Bear). My life and memories are held by the plants in my sunshine spots, the smell of candles and incense, the dog hair on the hard wood, the smell of fresh laundry, a kick-ass wardrobe, some hidden treasures, my kids childhood memories,  the landscaped flower beds and the painted rocks throughout.

Let the people walk though, if they wish, and take a rock or anything they want. I am not attached to any of it. Not today and certainly not when my time is up. There are pages of stories, and journals, and artwork and anything one could sift through to know how my mind worked, whether I ever shared it openly or not. I’ll be gone. My legacy remains in what I chose to spend my time on. It has already been written. 

Let the people walk. Let them remember me how they will. Honor and let go of what was branded in the essence of Sara Beth Taylor. Or let them grieve their own way…in a time and place of their choosing, away from it all. I cannot control how I will be remembered. But I can live each day with intention on what lights up my mind, my heart, & my soul. 

Give my ashes to my children to do as they wish. They are my only living legacies whom I had the honor of building in my own flesh. I made provisions for them long ago and throughout my entire existence. They are in me and I in them, no matter. My hope is that they take those ashes and when the time is right, spread them in the places we traveled and the parks we hiked. You know, where the good memories were made. I have a list of those beautiful memories burned into mind that I carry with me always. But their memories are their own, so they decide. May they remember the legacy of love I left in whatever capacity serves them. My knowing is that I loved them fiercely and may that love remain forevermore. It was, has been, and always will be….infinite and divine.

As for Blue Bear, Owen gets first dibs. He was with me the day we selected her. He knows the essence of my soul the most. It lies within her too, as it did with Scout.

Love her well and simply hold one another in high regard.

That’s it.