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Roses by Paula Atwell

Honor your mother and father is a commandment we all learn in some form or another in most cultures and religions across the globe. With today being Mother’s Day, it is a perfect day to think about our relationships with our own parents and children.

I just finished reading AJ’s post Legacies and Family History which has made me think again of my views on legacies. On a day like Mother’s Day, those of us who are mothers often think about the journey we have already taken being a mother, how it has changed us, and where we will find ourselves in the future in relationship to our families.

Being a mother gives a person a unique view of life that only another mother can truly understand. As we nuture our children inside our bodies, they become a part of us and that never really changes after they are born. Human beings are capable of so many great and terrible things, but often it is the small, daily habits that really say who we are. The endless days that we spend with our children, guiding them over and over in small tasks, reassuring them of their identities, and teaching them of the importance of quietly building a relationship over time are legacies that we can leave to them.

Our children take the seeds that we plant in their hearts and minds, germinate them, and develop into the people that grow to be, apart from ourselves, wholely unique, yet a blend of the experiences that we have given them and the ones they experience on their own. Our greatest legacy that we can give to our children is to completely be ourselves, in all of our imperfect glory, reveling in life. By taking joy in our lives, our selves, and our loved ones, being the me we are meant to be, we can leave a legacy of joyous individualism, creativity, and wholeness to our children.

With the development of social networking on the internet, we can also leave a different kind of legacy that is not bound by geography or even language through our interactions and relationships online, and the articles that we author. Our generation is learning that what we say online can literally be heard in places far, far away as more and more people are joining the conversation. The internet has become another powerful tool in how we communicate our thoughts with others. Writing an article online is similar to having a conversation with one of our children. We never know how our listener will take our message, nor what they will take away from it.

So on this Mother’s Day, as you think about your relationships with your families, consider the legacy that you are leaving behind on the internet, and what you are teaching your audience with each new addition to your presence online.
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