What Do You Want To Be Remembered For?
By patgalca
@patgalca (18481)
Orangeville, Ontario
June 16, 2020 12:10pm CST
I've been spending most of my days doing 3 things - exercising, reading, and watching YouTube videos. Not a lot of YouTube videos, just the ones I've always watched. Not binging on sitcom bloopers (though I wouldn't mind doing that).
One of my favourite YouTubers is Colleen Ballinger. She started on YouTube 10 years ago playing the character Miranda Sings. That got her a two year Netflix show as that character. She got to do a two month stint in Waitress on Broadway last year. Her lifelong dream.
YouTubers get a lot of nasty comments online (as do a lot of people). Colleen is not immune to this though she is the nicest person. Recently she cleaned out her closet which included props from her show and tons of fan mail and fan art. She read some of the letters and cried. She said with all the negative she receives it was a pleasant change to read all the wonderful comments in the fan mail. She went on to list all of her achievements (as did a fan in one of the letters).
This got me thinking... what the heck have I achieved in my life? I am old enough to be Colleen's mother. She has accomplished so much. I feel like I have accomplished nothing. And every day is the same old thing every day. I have no opportunities to accomplish anything to be proud of.
Last fall our writing group had a Christmas social. One gentleman (an author, director, choreographer, actor) asked me what I wanted to be remembered for. What a hard question to answer. All I ever wanted was to be a mother. Done that and my kids still bring me great joy and frustration. 
My younger daughter actually gave me a talk a couple weeks ago about DOING something, about having something to look forward to.
Well, my older daughter got engaged a couple of years ago. I thought I had a wedding to look forward to, grandchildren to look forward to; and having received my inheritance vacations to look forward to. Well, no one's going anywhere ... not this year.
What do I want? I don't know what I want. Do you know what you want? What do you want to be remembered for?
Picture: Me and my girls on our way to Las Vegas October 2019.
My younger daughter actually gave me a talk a couple weeks ago about DOING something, about having something to look forward to.
Well, my older daughter got engaged a couple of years ago. I thought I had a wedding to look forward to, grandchildren to look forward to; and having received my inheritance vacations to look forward to. Well, no one's going anywhere ... not this year.
What do I want? I don't know what I want. Do you know what you want? What do you want to be remembered for?
Picture: Me and my girls on our way to Las Vegas October 2019.2 people like this
3 responses
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
16 Jun 20
I do think that sometimes we feel a need to live up to other people's standards for life. However, there are times when I ask myself "What have I really ever accomplished?"
Well, I've accomplished a lot, but mostly a lot of "nothing."
That is something I'm changing this year. I write now, and I have a dream of making a steady income from that. I have one book that I've self published, but I'm not completely happy with it, so I don't often talk about it here. What do I want to be remembered for? Well, I don't quite know the answer to that, but I do know that I'd like to at least make one person happy with my words.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
16 Jun 20
@patgalca Sometimes we have to find the time and just start, even if it's only a sentence, and even if that sentence gets erased. I can't remember which author said this, but an author once said something along the lines of "You'll never finish a book if you don't start it."
This is what has helped me :
Listening to relaxing, no lyrics / voices music while I write
Reading when I feel like there are no words coming to me
Coloring has even helped me to relax so that the words come easier
I find that crocheting helps me relax too, and words have come to me easier after that.
I bought prowritingaid from the .com site of the same name and it's helped me with editing just as an FYI. I searched for a 40% off code as normally it's like $75 for a year.
1 person likes this
@patgalca (18481)
• Orangeville, Ontario
16 Jun 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum What I really need is my own space. And with everyone home during the lock down finding time alone has been next to impossible.
1 person likes this
@just4him (323168)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
22 Jun 20
I think you have a lot to be remembered for with what you wrote here. You might not think so, but your girls will have wonderful memories of you.
I want to be remembered as a woman of God. For my faith and love of my Savior. For a heart of compassion for my fellow man. I don't want to be remembered for my faults which are many.
1 person likes this
