Memories

By Kyle Dinwiddie, PRC-Saltillo Blogger

Sometimes we win, and sometimes we don't in this adventure that we call life.

Last week I lost my step-grandpa unexpectedly.  My parents and I were there visiting him in the hospital when he passed. It was quite a shock.

My mom, aunts, and Uncle had to quickly put together a memorial.  Everything had to be ready in less than a week!  So everyone had their part to do.  My cousins, aunts, and uncle brought food and found a place to have the memorial.  My dad made an awesome picture collage.  I created a song-list of the type of music my grandpa enjoyed.  Although it was fast, my family was able to organize a beautiful memorial.   

During the memorial, my song list played on my new fancy Bluetooth speaker in the background.  My dad's picture collage was a huge hit that sparked lots of talk about my grandpa.  After we all ate, everyone was encouraged to share a memory of my grandpa.  As people stood up and told their memory, the mood was heavy.  Then it was my mom's turn to share a memory.

She told about a visit when she sat down on the sofa beside my grandpa.  His dog, Sammy, was sitting between both of them happily chewing on his treat.  When my mom noticed her step-father looking at her and the dog, she shrugged her shoulders and jokingly said, "I'm not very hungry," at which my grandpa gave her a very disapproving scowl.  Apparently, he thought that my mom had given Sammy something to eat.  My mom found the misunderstanding quite funny.  And never did explain to my grandpa what really happened. 

It seemed after my mom shared this story, the whole mood of the memorial was lifted.  People began telling other stories.  Some of them were short, a couple of them were long, but many of them were very funny.  I learned a lot of interesting things about him.  These stories told about the life and character of this man, and how he touched so many lives.  I left the memorial with a completely different outlook on life.

With my curious mind, I have been pondering about the subject of life.  What does life mean or is it just meaningless?  Why are we here or what is our purpose?  L.I.F.E.  These four letters put together have infinite different possible meanings.  Some people ask where we come from, who invented chocolate, or why bad things happen to good people.  But the question for me (or maybe for you) is what people will remember about me when I’m gone. 

What will be my legacy? Pondering over that question, I hope to be remembered as being someone who inspired and uplifted others through my writing, to be a person who brought smiles to people, and a person who had given others hope.

My dad says he hopes to be remembered as being a servant, and a loving friend.  How about you?  What will people remember about you?

This is Life with Kyle and I will talk to you next week.