Legacy is defined as an amount of money or property left to someone in a will. Other definitions include the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person’s life. It can also include values and traits that you have instilled in your children. The example sentence is, he left his children love and respect. Let’s look at each individual example. You pretty much know if you have instilled values in your children on how they are living their own lives. If you die when your children are very young, then you really won’t know for sure how they will turn out. Most people know, especially today if they are going to have some kind of lasting impact on society. They may not know to what extent their impact will be, but they know that people will remember the things that they have done long after they have passed. This brings us to the last meaning of legacy, leaving someone money or property after you die. This is what a will is all about. I have never understood making sure that you leave a large amount of money to your children or grandchildren or anybody for that matter. You will never see what they are going to do with all that money. Wouldn’t it bring you more joy to see them use the money or gifts while you are alive, even if it would mean you may have to cut back some on your own lifestyle. Do people do this because they think that after they die, they will look down upon earth and see what happens when their loved ones get all of that money. Sometimes receiving a lot of money may ruin some people’s lives. If you give them money while you are alive, you would be able to see how they are handling it. To answer the question, I am leaving no legacy. I am giving my money to my daughter’s family while I am alive and giving more as I age. This is easy to do when your goal is to die a pauper.
Retired Just Like Me
When my parents were 73, they were retired just like me. My mother was a secretary who worked during World War II, before I was born. Once I was born, she stayed home which was the norm in those days. She went back to work when I went to college and worked until she was 62. My Dad owned a beer distributor until 1968 and then worked as a salesman for an appliance store until he was 67. I can honestly say that the retirement years were the best years of my Dad’s life. My parents owned rental property that consisted of two houses, two garage apartments, one small mobile home, and a building that contained 4 apartments, all on one floor. My Dad was a Mr. Fix It and he woke up every day hoping someone would have a problem with something so he could fix it. There were only the three of us, my parents and me. However, we had 3 washing machines, 2 dryers, 4 lawn mowers, and various motors everywhere in the garage. None of them cost a dime. My Dad would find them, bring them home, repair or replace whatever was wrong with them and we would have a new appliance or piece of equipment. He had the motors to replace the motors on the various pieces of equipment we had, in case something went wrong with them. I can say growing up, I never saw a repair man, plumber, or electrician the entire time. Back in the day, when TV’s had tubes instead of transistors, he would always be able to fix the TV. I can remember standing in front of the TV set telling my Dad, picture, no picture, sound, no sound. I can also remember us messing around with the test pattern. If you don’t know what a test pattern is, look it up. My Dad always made sure that the test pattern was always perfect. He even checked it when there seemed to be nothing wrong, just to make sure. My Dad died when he was 83, after about a 4-month illness. He had the best 15 years of retirement that anybody could possibly have had. Every day he was doing the one thing he loved to do most, fix something that was broken or doing the maintenance on something to make sure it would get broken.
Someone
The question is, what is the greatest gift someone could give you? First of all, it would depend on who that someone is? There are many possibilities. The first someone could be a complete stranger. The obvious answer to that one is money baby and lots of it. Depending on the amount, the other requirement would be they remain a complete stranger after they give it to me. They could give it to me in person, but that would be the extant of it. Now what would the amount have to be to let them at least socially become part of my life. I would say about a half a million. If you are going to hand me less than that then just beat it after you give it to me. I would take any amount also, a few thousand or whatever, but just shake my hand, I will say thank you and then turn and walk away. The next someone could be what would be called an acquaintance. Now most of the people I know, although there are exceptions, don’t have a pot to piss in. The few that I do know that are well heeled I would take money from them as long as our relationship remains the same. For my poorer acquaintances, I guess I would want them to do some chores for me. Take the car for an oil change, shovel snow, cut the grass etc. Nothing huge but just some things so I could play more golf. The next someone would be friends and relatives that are not close. The best gift would be to just continue to stay in touch and hopefully all of us will have good times with not too many bad experiences thrown in, although I know that those cannot be totally avoided. Unfortunately, things have to change but hopefully the good things will change slowly, and the bad things will happen quickly, so we can move on to more pleasant times. The final someone is my immediate family and the greatest gift they can give me they already have. I am proud of all of them and the lives they have chosen to lead. It is easy to relax and enjoy the golden years, when the people you are closest to and love, exemplify all the things that you feel make the world a better place. Thank you for the greatest gift that money can’t buy. But hey, any wealthy strangers out there, feel free.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 