Generations

4 Generations

This picture was taken at a Mayberry Family Reunion this past weekend. At the reunion, my mother and her siblings celebrated the life of my grandmother, Gwendolyn Young Mayberry. In commemoration of her life and her passing a decade ago, they each shared thoughts and memories of their angel mother. I never really knew my Grandma Gwen. She suffered from the devastating effects of Alzheimer's Disease at a very young age. By the time I was old enough to really know and appreciate her, the disease was too far advanced. The only positive memories I have are a few fuzzy and fleeting memories as a very young child and the pre-Alzheimer's stories that other family members have shared with me. I came away from this reunion with a new found respect for my grandmother. She truly was amazing! As stories and memories were shared, I couldn't help but realize how much my mother is so much like her very own. I never knew that some of the things my mother does or says are because her mother did or said them too...and they are some of the things I love the most about my mom! Here are a few of the things that my mother learned from her mother....and that I hope to have learned from mine:

• Incredible frugality--know how to make a penny s t r e t c h.
• Industrious--from homemaking, to child rearing, to garden growing, to clothes sewing...they do it all and they do it really well.
• Extreme loyalty to family (I think I have this one conquered...my family is pretty awesome...and don't you dare try to tell me otherwise!)
• Intense love for learning--and basically to never stop learning!
  
• A love for wildflowers
• Good communicators
• Just being there for your children--I think every child (all nine of them) mentioned their mother being home when they returned home from school and just how much that meant to them. I hope I can practice the same degree of self-discipline to be there and to be interested...even when other things seem more enticing.

These are just a few of the things that I appreciate about my mother, and now my grandmother! Of course, there are a few sayings that I've adopted as well and now I know I can thank Grandma Gwen for all of those, too.

I am increasingly impressed with the legacy that has been left in my behalf. I truly have some amazing men and women in my personal pedigree. While they all differ in personalities, characteristic traits, strengths and weaknesses, they each have left an indelible impression in my life...all of which are very positive! This fact gives me great hope that I, too, can leave a rich heritage for my posterity. And so I've been pondering these rhetorical questions a lot as of late:

• Am I living a life that will be remembered for good in many years to come?
• What impression will I leave upon my posterity?
• Can I bestow the gift that has been given to me upon my lineage?
• What is the most important thing that I want my descendants to know about me without a doubt?

I don't have all of these questions answered yet, but I do feel a greater drive and determination to answer them in the affirmative and to live up to the legacy that has been laid before me...to pass it on and to add my unyielding link to this indestructible chain.