On Legacy and Creativity

Last Saturday on my way to meet Shelley to Shop Hop in Austin, I heard a story on Weekend Edition on NPR about a group of non-medical hospice workers in St Louis.  They call the group Luminaria and the members work with terminally ill people helping them to create their legacies.  One mother of a young adult woman said that the weekly visit from the Luminaria team member was by far her dying daughters favorite thing.  No matter how bad she felt, how painful her illness was, she dearly loved working on the letters, DVD's and scrapbooks that she was preparing as her legacy.  It was a lovely story.  It wasn't sappy - I didn't cry.  It was just a story I was really glad I got to hear.  But - it got me thinking.  Why must we be under a death sentence to begin deliberately working on our legacy? Maybe you have considered your legacy already.  I admit, turning 50 has had the term crossing my mind more often and I also admit, my legacy is important to me.  For purposes of this conversation, let's define legacy as how I want the lives of those I love (sorry, can't do the whole world) to be changed/impacted/improved because I was a part of it.  I hear we firstborns are people pleasers by virtue of our birth order.  I have always been willing to use that as reason that making others lives better matters to me.  I have very little use for or patience with those who do not concern themselves with the needs and wants of others.  Can't really see myself getting worked up over making their lives better.  But making life better for those I love - I live for that!  Major endorphin rush happens when I make something that makes someone happy.  I feel really lucky that I have an interest that allows me to not just buy and give my loved ones something that will make them happy but to make them something!  I think most of my quilting buddies would agree, our hand made items are a great start on our legacies.  I'm right in the middle of quilts for Clayton, Harris and Curtis.  I plan to make one for Morgan and Desiree for a wedding gift.  Friday night I finished one for Hollis and me - the first bed quilt I've made for us and our 30th anniversary is next month.  So my quilts and crafts are very much a material (no pun intended) legacy and my genuine desire to bring whatever happiness to those I love is my whatever-the-opposite-of-material-in-this-context is.  Frankly, I'd love to give everybody I like a quilt I made - not exactly practical but I sure wish I could.  I just want to leave a good legacy - physically and spiritually so that when I'm not around any more, there are examples of my love left behind.

Now to be certain, this leads directly to creativity.  I heard a quote from our speaker at guild yesterday.  She's a fiber artist, not a quilter, so I didn't know what exactly she had to offer us as a group of quilters but this quote alone was pretty much worth listening to her lecture.  "You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have." - Maya Angelou.  I went through a complete creative drought the last year that I taught and while Harris was hurt.  I couldn't sew on a button, much less make a quilt and I did not enjoy the way that felt.  I knew the stress in my life accounted for the drought and I was so relieved when the creative juices started flowing again but then things got a little crazy.  Now I actually worry about dying before I get make everything I want to make!  I always know at least 6 things I want to make as soon as I finish the project I'm on now.  This quote from one of my favorite sages certainly clears things up!!  I don't exactly know how I'm going to keep up but I'm sure trying.  Shelley and I have plans to put our creativity and instructional ability to work for us.  You can't even imagine how exciting that is for me to even think about.  We pretty much have way more ideas than we will ever be able to implement - and a couple of grand notions about how much we will love it and be sought after for our ideas and knowledge - another rush indeed.  Apparently creativity begets creativity.  So here's my prayer:  Lord, help me to build the legacy that reflects my faith and love for you and shows my fellow humans that serving and giving reaps great rewards.  Help me to be aware of needs and full of determination to meet them and help those I love to see your love for them in my legacy.  I have to get some sleep now - so I can create something this week. . .