Leaving a legacy for our children.

It is a year this week since I lost an old friend whom I had known for over 40 years. A group of us had remained friends since the early 1970s and knowing that the first anniversary of the death of a family member or a friend is often the worst, we decided to meet together to celebrate her life.

Back in the 1970s, before Op Shopping became trendy, she used to scour the Op Shops for fine china and other bits and pieces and built up quite a collection over the years. So I asked her family if I could have one of her cups or mugs and each of us in our group was given some of her beautiful crockery. The plan was that we would meet together around her first anniversary and drink from her cups and remember our old friend who wasn't actually 'old' as she was only in her early sixties.

We met at the home of her youngest girl who had given birth to a bub only a few months before her mum died. That little bub is now a gorgeous toddler and a more pleasant child you couldn't find anywhere. We felt a bond with her as soon as we met her and thought how proud her grandmother would have been if she had lived to enjoy some more years with her. Our friend's other grandchildren were older so they had had the privilege of knowing their grandma for a number of years. She loved each and every one of them.

We had a wonderful time together and just sat and talked and ate and sat and talked ....

..... and ate a hearty home-grown salad, zucchini slice, falafels, and other niceties...

...and finished it all off with a fruit salad topped with cream.

It was such a lovely day which was full of mixed emotions...the sadness of feeling the loss of a good friend but the joy of being able to come together and talk about her life and remember the good times.

 Later that night I pondered on the legacy we leave behind when our lives are over on this earth. Our friend's daughter exhibited many of the qualities that we had seen in her mum over the years and which had endeared her to us.

She would have been proud!