The Grapevine: Legacies Come Without Even Realizing We are Building Them
By Connect-Bridgeport Staff on August 04, 2020 from The Grapevine
“What will my legacy be?”
As I watched the funeral activities of John Lewis this phrase kept coming up as a part of one of his last speeches. It made me think what answer each of us could give to this question.
I know that most of us could have a good answer to this question. We were good parents, we were good children we were good neighbors, we were involved in community activities. We donated our time to children’s activities, we were active at our church, we visited the hospitals or the elderly care homes.
The list could go on and on. No, we did not have to lead a civil rights movement or present a congressional bill that changed the lives of many, but our service right here in our community made great changes and this is what our legacy will be.
There will probably not be three presidents speaking at our funeral, but the preacher who depended on us to assist at the church or the young man who got to play ball because we took the time to help him, the daughter who so appreciated our weekly visits to her elderly parents or the client who came to the weekly food pantry where we volunteered might be there to address our legacy. None of us did any of this with a legacy in mind, but it truly is what we can refer to as our legacy.
This is kind of a sad column for me this week as I mourn four local deaths.
Frannie Phares became a great friend as we served communion together for over twenty years at the seven o’clock mass on Sunday. We never had to be replaced because they knew we would be there every Sunday.
Randy Barnes came from a family that I considered to be my family. Johnny Arcos was special. Hospitality at the Caboose made me feel right at home. And Jean Sabitelli was synonymous with good food. I extend my sympathies to these families on their losses and think about their legacies.
If a great person like Herbert Cain can die of the virus, who are we to think that it cannot hit us. Please be careful and practice social distancing and wear a mask. I feel as though this is going to be with us for a while.
I can say that my little garden keeps me busy and something that fulfills my time at home. I continue to read and the staff at the Bridgeport Library are so helpful. I just finished one of Danielle Steele’s latest, “Daddy’s Girls.” It was a very good story.
I will share with you one of my reading secrets. I start reading at about two o’clock in the afternoon and finish around midnight. Why do I do this? Well, I have a tendency to forget who the characters are if I lay the book down.
Stay healthy, be careful and until next week “Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
