Life itself seems to have taken a turn in the last generation if I am reading things right. The former closely tied family is now wide-spread and the interest in the past — and even who are forebearers were — is no longer an engrained thing. Am I wrong about that? I think not . . . though here and there are exceptions, I am sure. Perhaps when all is said and done, what others close to me have said over and over is that in all of life, my husband and I have had the only perfect marriage that they have ever seen - that we have found the key to happiness and kept that key shined brightly for a record number of years. . . and still smile or laugh more than any other people they have seen. Let’s hope there is something in the genes that will carry through into the generations to come, but if not, we think we have “the secret” no matter what. A list of achievements is only that in the end, isn’t it? For it is the love and good times, given and received, that become the memories that may be passed on and, with it, the stories — outrageous as some could be — when they have an ancestor who was a risk taker to a degree that most are not. If I am recalled at all, I would hope that it might be - beyond that - for a love of travel, equal to the famous ancient explorers, that has been with me since my youngest days. Travel to the most remote places on earth has opened my mind and eyes to the larger world, and my love of nature - from the largest to the smallest - has made me a sponge soaking up everything in my path. But in a nutshell - for I think that a few words may actually be passed on - it would be that the one place that has captured me, heart and soul, and drawn me back again and again is Antarctica. Never, never sit home, my later family should be told, but go to the far reaches of the world as soon as they can in life - as I did - and find places that touch the soul — for we never never to leave life with regrets. And so, any stories that could be remembered could be told, of course, but the six words that would sum me up would be: she lived life to the fullest. That is truth — and there is hope that later generations will follow that lead. For then they too - like me - would find themselves blessed beyond belief.

For myself, life would be pretty empty without the music. I have talked to my children and grandchildren about the stories that I could pass on, and they will have my journals and writing still when I am gone, but a song that says alot about how I view living and leaving is “Teach your Children Well” , I think my greatest legacy to them will be leaving them knowing that they were always loved. Crosby Stills Nash Young - Teach Your Children Lyrics Album: You who are on the road Must have a code that you can live by And so become yourself Because the past is just a good bye. Teach your children well, Their father’s hell did slowly go by, And feed them on your dreams The one they picked, the one you’ll know by. Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry, So just look at them and sigh and know they love you. And you, of tender years, Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by, And so please help them with your youth, They seek the truth before they can die. Counter Melody To Above Verse: Can you hear and do you care and Cant you see we must be free to Teach your children what you believe in. Make a world that we can live in. Teach your parents well, Their children’s hell will slowly go by, And feed them on your dreams The one they picked, the one you’ll know by. Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry, So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

I was a woman filled with love. I could not learn to fly like a bird or to run a marathon or to speak a hundred languages, but I only needed the language of love. I could tell my family I really loved them and meant it. I really cared about people and their feelings. I loved.

That I cared about God, people, animals, this planet. Caring really matters, and giving matters even more.

My kids are great mimics. They already tell stories about me in ways that make me look like a “character”. They think i’m funny. But I think I’d like them to tell the stories of my “interventions” that mattered to people. Like… one time I saw a guy about 70 driving on the sidewalk. He was drunker than a skunk. I was with my husband and two of our kids who were young teens at the time. People were just watching the guy drive. He was only going about 10 miles an hour. He stopped at the stoplight! I engaged him, talked him into believing I’d drive him where he was going cuz he was lost, took his keys and waited for the police. A woman officer showed up and when he saw her and she got him out of the car. He looks at me and goes “women.. ya can’t trust em”. LOL! Or the time I stopped a man and a three year old girl leaving a store because she was screaming at the top of her lungs “mommy help me”. I knew the minute I stopped them he was her dad. He didn’t care that I’d stopped them. He just lauged and said “I thought that might happen”. I got down on my knees and asked the little girl where her mommmy was and she pointed into the store. I asked her where her daddy was and she pointed to the man. He laughed I laughed he said thank you I went shopping. Everyone else just walked by. I”d like to be remembered for caring enough to step up… My kids tell these stories now with fake irritation in their voices. Cuz it happens quite a bit. If you look around there’s a lot going on in the world. But they love me for it.