{"id":273,"date":"2012-01-14T13:26:51","date_gmt":"2012-01-14T18:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/?p=273"},"modified":"2012-01-14T13:28:30","modified_gmt":"2012-01-14T18:28:30","slug":"273","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/2012\/01\/14\/273\/","title":{"rendered":"Evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Evidence of a year well lived hangs on a unique clothes-pinned-wire woven frame of a thing in my office.\u00a0 Collected over the course of the year there are thank you notes that are formal and scribbled and published and printed. \u00a0\u00a0Clippings from the local paper, snapshots, and handmade tokens and scraps of the everyday deemed important.<\/p>\n

Thank you notes are the best indicator of how you\u2019re doing in life.\u00a0 They are concrete evidence of a kindness extended or a task completed with perfection.\u00a0 They represent appreciation. They always catch me by surprise.<\/p>\n

Small hand written envelopes are pulled from the mailbox with utter joy.\u00a0 I always open them up then and there and read the contents on the way back to the front door. It is becoming more and more unusual for people to take the time to write notes. \u00a0When one arrives thanking you \u00a0for the smallest of good deeds you truly realize your value.\u00a0 You realize you\u2019re on the right path to creating your legacy.<\/p>\n

Birthday cards are another confirmation of your value, some silly, some snide but well intended and some sent directly from the heart.\u00a0 I know the person sending it agonized over the myriad of cards and maybe shed a tear or two in the aisle.\u00a0 I\u2019ve done that, I\u2019ve purchased those cards for the people that I would surely die for and have stood in the aisle flooded with emotion.\u00a0 I treasure the people who have done that for me.<\/p>\n

Snippets of recipes found in the paper, renditions of me made by my niece CJ,\u00a0 upcoming events I should know about sent by email, clippings of me and my little rescues found in the local paper heralding our fundraising efforts.\u00a0 Three years running as Queens of the Carnivale!<\/p>\n

Pieces of palm from Palm Sunday sent over from Mom to bless me.\u00a0 She prays and prays that one and I keep telling her God is not unhappy with me.\u00a0 I think she\u2019s actually starting to believe me.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t stop her from praying but I\u2019ll take all the prayers she wants to send.<\/p>\n

At the end of each year I pull them down one by one and recall the moment of its receipt and the act that brought it about. \u00a0I settle into an afternoon of tea and reflection and solidify my new year\u2019s resolution to live as if my legacy depended on it.<\/p>\n

Then, I pack all the snippets into an envelope and throw the envelope into the big old hope chest that resides in my office closet.\u00a0 At some point someone will open it and find each year\u2019s envelope.\u00a0 I know like I know that they, too, will settle into an afternoon of tea and reflection and they will know me through the remnants of documented good deeds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.
\nAlbert Einstein<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evidence of a year well lived hangs on a unique clothes-pinned-wire woven frame of a thing in my office.\u00a0 Collected over the course of the year there are thank you notes that are formal and scribbled and published and printed. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pause-points"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s27hQ5-273","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions\/279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}