Legacy Living?

shutterstock_326646062.jpg

“Legacy is anything, tangible or intangible, of any size…that we intentionally or unintentionally leave behind.”

Meg Newhouse



Denise and I have noticed some interesting changes in our lives the last few years. It seems nearly every conversation with friends and family centers around the same few topics:

  • Adult kids - Our kids left home for college a few years back, then they began careers and both married. Now what do we talk about with our friends…. our kids! How they are fairing in life, their joys, successes and pains along with how we can develop adult relationships with them.

  • Aging parents - We talk about those that are still living and our increasing responsibilities and concerns. We also remember those who have past away, which seems to happen much more frequently these days.

  • Grandchildren - The new “bragging” topic! What a joy! Also how much we miss the ones we are not around as much. Sometimes it even circles us back to the adult kids topic listed above.

  • Retirement - We talk about getting ready for it and also how it is going once it has started. We talk about plans, dreams, finances and also about how things may not be exactly as they seemed before it happened.

  • Health - We seem to have more cancer and other health related issues in our circle of friends and family. We try to help each other through those times and also we have more conversations about pills, diets, exercise and articles we have read or trying out.

  • Marriage - When the kids leave and especially at retirement, we spend a lot more time with each other! This is really different and can put a lot of strain on marriages.

That’s just a few of the changes. I’ve just finished a new book by Mike Bellah (“The Best is Yet to Be”). Mike was/is a mentor of mine. It’s a great book and he lists a number of titles that various authors have called this stage in life such as “Midlife”, “Second Half”, “3rd Chapter”, “Adulthood II” and a few others.

It’s really a different stage in life with lots of changes. Denise and I refer to it as moving into “Legacy Living” and want to invite you to help on this journey to encourage, share, pray and build a strong community among each other. We want to have folks share their journey in blogs and social media. We will be sharing links to podcasts and other resources that apply and we would love to get together periodically and share experiences, stories and learnings about these topics.

That’s just a few of the changes. We may have 30-40 years living without kids in the house or being retired. We want to be intentional about our purpose and dreams in this new phase of life. Will you join in and help us learn from each other?

Join our Facebook and Instagram Groups. Post some of your thoughts on the blogs…. and we also might just recruit some of you to write some short blogs… hint, hint.

Thanks for reading…. Ray