My Life's Purpose

The tiny human I call "grandson" is watching some cartoon with puppies who go on grand adventures, as Mother's Day stretches out in front of me. My day is a watercolor, the blues of the past mixing and melding with the purples, pinks, yellows and greens of today, creating a picture of my life up to this moment that is almost too beautiful to gaze upon. I only have a handful of happy memories of my own mother, but the memories I have since becoming a mom, myself, are too numerous to count. And now, here I am today periodically snuggled up to the next generation, where so far almost every memory is a joyous one. 

It is a sobering thought that when the boy is the age I am right now, I will be gone from this world. Thinking back, when I was not much older than he is now, my life's purpose was set. I decided that I would make right all the things that were wrong in my world. I would heal every pain I could and undo "generations" of damage. I would leave everything I touched better than it was when I found it, or if that was beyond my capabilities, at least leave "it" unharmed by my hand, my presence. I wanted to leave a positive impact everywhere I went. It was a ridiculously simplistic plan hatched up in a child's mind, and yet nearly fifty years later, it occurs to me that it's still a pretty good one. 

There was a moment, not long ago, when I thought my "purpose" was complete and whatever life I had left stretched out in front of me appeared to be an empty void of uncertainty. Thankfully, I discovered that there are always places that need healing, people who need light, and lost tiny humans just waiting for someone to show them that they matter. There's no such thing as giving too much "love" to the world and it requires absolutely no extra or expensive resources. There's no age limit, time limit, or expiration date. No "bit" of love that's too small. 

In the end, the only legacy we leave behind is the way we loved.