There is not a moment that I have spent at our summer home in Belgrade Lakes, Maine that I have not thought how lucky we are to have this place. A somewhat remote camp on Long Pond (pond is loosely used in New England as this pond is 2714 acres in size),I have come here to vacation all of my life. We still do not have electricity but have moved up from the classic red manual pump to bring water into the house to a generator run pump and a large holding tank in the shed. We have kept the outhouse but now have 2 indoor toilets. You could say we now have 4 toilets as the outhouse has 2 seats but as far as I know only one is used at a time.
Very little kerosene is used these days and lights are via propane, as are the refrigerator and stove. A wood stove heats the house and a fire is made on 80% of the mornings we are here, sometimes to truly take the chill off as it is Maine, and sometimes for ambiance. Most of the family also realizes that once you pass 80 years of age you are frequently cold and therefore it is now a family joke that the house is cold if dad has not yet gotten the thermostat up to 82.
But it is always easy to cool down in the lake, where 74 is a standard, 78 a luxury. My sisters and I grew up with a couple of cousins playing house on the rocks in the woods, making huts, playing Barbie Dolls down by the water, reading comic books on rainy days and during a mandatory rest time every afternoon (what ever happened to mandatory rest times)? And when we were teenagers we spent time sunning, waterskiing, and thinking about the boys back home or the boys next door.
This camp is a legacy in our family. My grandfather bought the land in 1940 after having been on the lake for many years fishing. The 225’ of waterfront were bought from the neighbor with whom my grandfather fished about a quarter mile down the lake. That camp was built in 1898 and housed the boys next door 2 generations later.
My father and his brothers built our camp in 1960 and in 1962 we arrived for our first summer, my sister and I just under a year old. 52 years later my children and my sisters’ children have spent many days playing, swimming, and laughing at this camp. We are so very fortunate to have been given this legacy but it strikes me that a legacy can be anything you wish it to be. By definition a legacy is “something received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past” (Webster). It also means how someone is remembered, and what contributions they made while they were alive.
If we were wise enough to live life thinking forward we would begin to consider our legacy early. Maybe as we are new parents peeking in the crib to make sure our first born is really ok we would think “how do I want this child to remember me when I am 90?”
To that end the following documents might be helpful. We should think about our legacy sooner rather than later but invariably it is as we reach the end of our life that it becomes front of mind. I believe that if we are mindful of what we may leave behind for our family and community we would make choices that reflect our true nature and the heart of who we are.
It can be a family tradition of baking cookies together at Christmas, a recipe passed down through the generations. Or a day trip to the beach or local fair. Maybe it is a donation of time working at the soup kitchen together or collecting jackets before the cold weather arrives. A legacy of giving from the heart is sure to have a greater impact on how you leave your family than any money.
Check out the forms below and consider them. They were developed for a younger generation and in hopes of turning the decisions that generation makes in a positive direction. Surely the sooner we think about the legacy we will leave the better our legacy reflects our true heart.
http://www.caph.gmu.edu/Legacy/1legacy.html
A Personal Reflection (pdf)
A Wellness Perspective (pdf)
Perspectives Based on Audience (pdf)
Reflections Based on Time (pdf)
Reflections Based on End of Life (pdf)
A Letter to Yourself (pdf)
A Letter to You from Others: Today and Tomorrow (pdf)