Don’t worry, this is not going to be a behavioral lecture. I woke up this morning at 5:00 with this thought burning in my brain like the August sun in Phoenix. I was thinking how will people remember me when I’m no longer among the living. Now this immediately concerned me, thinking maybe it was a sign that I had departed, or was about to depart. I did all of the usual stuff to make sure I was still alive, and once I determined that I was still alive, I continued thinking about this topic, and knew that I had to write about it.

The next question I asked my brain, was what makes a person memorable. So the obvious answer to that question is to look back over your life, and examine which people you remember most and why. I deduced that the people that I remembered immediately were the people that I admired and desired to imitate. I think we automatically feel that way about our parents, unless our parents were a couple of whack jobs. Fortunately, I got a good pair, and they gave me a lot of reasons to follow their example. My father was a manly guy, he did all of the masculine stuff, baseball, fishing, hunting, building stuff, and I really liked that. I wanted to be like my Dad as far back as I can remember. My mom was the rule enforcer. She was really big on right and wrong and being honest and trustworthy. She must have told me a thousand times that my word was my bond. She would say, ” if you said you were going to do something, do it, no matter how difficult.”

I don’t think your personality ever stops evolving. I have met a lot of people that have had an influence on how I view life, and will probably meet more. I’m sure I’m no different than you, when I say that some were profoundly more influential than others. My only hope is that after I am gone, people will say that I had a positive impact on their life, and speak kindly of me. If that happens I would consider it a life well lived. I can truthfully say, after being here for over three quarters of a century, I have no regrets.

VERITAS VINCIT   ~   LIVE FREE OR DIE

FOLLOW HIS EXAMPLE. YOU’LL BE REMEMBERED KINDLY