How 2020 Positively Impacted My Life & The Way I Define The Word ‘Legacy’
I didn’t think much about legacy prior to 2020. Like almost everyone else out there, I was just trying to figure out how to live life on my terms and hopefully lead a happy one. I was so focused on doing what I could to not care about what everyone else thought of me that I sometimes forgot to think about others all together.
I obsessed over the idea of being known over being remembered. Looking back on this now is baffling to me. I was more interested in gaining the attention of the millions out there who know nothing about me than giving my attention to those who’ve seen me grow every day of my life.
In December of 2019, my husband and I visited my grandparents in Mexico for Christmas. We’d planned on spending our trip enjoying meals with them, reading books on the beach and sleeping in every morning. We did, but we were also incredibly thrilled to find that the ‘old folks home’ campground that they travel to every winter is filled with the most incredible people, and that those people have incredible kids and grandkids too. We spent our time competing in campground ‘olympics’ pool volleyball, USA against Canada and Mexico. We walked the beaches into town, watched projector movies with the entire campground, danced the night away on New Years, and often went to be before my grandparents did.
Following that trip, I’d never felt closer to them. And only then did I realize that they’ve been teaching me my entire life what it means to live life to it’s fullest. Then 2020 hit, the world started shutting down, and within months I realized just how easily – how quickly – I could lose them both.
In April, I visited my friend Brittany for her birthday, leaving a gift card on her porch and writing happy birthday backwards on her front window in chalk. She caught me, we laughed about it, but deep down I was terrified of losing her too. We’ve known each other since kindergarten, and I might never get to have coffee with her in person, at a coffee shop, ever again.
Within just two months, each and every person that I love came to mind, and the more I thought about the idea of missing out on hugs, in-person holidays, or even just watching movies together, the more afraid I became. It even got to the point where I started questioning how well I know them, and what I would be able to remember if I lost them.
In early 2021, I found myself on the floor of my grandparent’s living room, mask on, video camera on the tripod, Zoom live, filming the first of four or five videos that had me documenting their lives, from birth to present day. Family was chiming in as I went, and it was one of the coolest things I will ever do in my lifetime.
It’s so incredibly crazy how horrible things can often lead to such amazing, meaningful moments. Would I have those videos if it weren’t for COVID? I honestly don’t think I would. Would I have created my legacy journal system? Probably not. Would I value life this way? Nope.
When I think about legacy now, it isn’t about being remembered by strangers or building something for show. It’s about the people whose hands I hold, whose stories I know, and whose laughter I don’t ever want to forget. Legacy isn’t out there, it’s right here. It’s the small, ordinary, beautiful moments that become extraordinary when we choose to hold onto them.
See you,
Amy