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Michael's Metaphors of Life Journal

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Echoes of the Past: Heirlooms of Our Legacy

September 29th, 2012 by Michael Dyet

Hmmm, how much of years gone by do we carry with us as we cobble together our life and chisel out our legacy?

In my younger days, I gave precious little thought to what the footprint of my life would look like when the last chapter of my life was closed. I was much too busy trying to figure out where I belonged and what career path I was going to take.

Now, as I settle into my mid 50’s and wonder where all that youthful energy spent itself, the notion of a legacy creeps into my thoughts. I imagine all of us weave our life-long tapestry with the hope that so small part of us will carry on when the candle of our life flickers out.

Thankfully, I’m not yet anywhere near the point where I’m revisiting my life to tally the final scorecard. But I do find myself casting occasional glances behind me, so to speak, wondering how many mistakes I’ve managed to mitigate and how many success credits I have accumulated.

As I ponder that unanswerable question, another comes on its heels. Am I the sum total of all myexperiences? Am I carrying with me the baggage of some 19,700+ days? (Yes, I did the math.) If so, that is a ponderous weight to carry.

What got me thinking along these lines? On my way home today, I passed the Community College I attended almost 40 years ago. A few memories from those days skittered through my head like leaves tumbling in the autumn breeze.

They seem inconsequential now. That time was, after all, a false start – leading to a profession that didn`t suit me. I circled back to university and learned how to think for myself rather than just live someone else`s words. Thank God for the quiet voice that compelled me to do so.

And yet, if I am honest with myself, there were formative experiences in those three seemingly wasted years. I grew out of one skin and into another. I learned to live with uncertainty and to trust in the process of finding my way.

It seems that all experience must accumulate and cross fertilize to form us into who we become. Nothing is really ever left behind even if it slips the grasp of memory.

But, of course, the process of becoming never really ends. Each echo of the past, each one-of-a-kind heirloom, is like a DNA molecule that interlocks with others to form new strands of who I am – a perpetual work in progress, it would seem.

I do hope to leave some kind of legacy. It doesn`t have to be a grand one that will be recorded in the history books. But I hope it will be a distinguishable image on the mural of time. One that a few of those who come after me will observe and think:

Hmmm, now that`s an interesting metaphor. I hadn`t thought of it quite that way. It puts things in a new perspective. Like a shifting wind, or a deeper dive and, yes, a sudden light.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com  or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.

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