I alluded to this a little bit when I talked about the pressure of picking the perfect names for our twins... the idea that these names (but mostly these people) are forever. I pray that Abbie and Sam will each find the great love of their life and have babies (hopefully more easily than we did), and that some of those babies will have babies and that our descendants are good people who do great things.
Leaving a legacy is important. As a grad student, I was drawn to Erikson's stages of psychosocial development. The seventh stage - middle adulthood - is all about making a difference and leaving a legacy, and for a person to successfully move on from that stage, they must feel they have accomplished this. A legacy doesn't have to be through parenting... far from it. I believe that Ethan's legacy is more far-reaching than my own, as he has directly influenced over a thousand students as a teacher and a professor... but for me, I have always imagined that my major legacy in following generations would be through my work as a mother.
So my motivation in mothering is to set in motion a cascade of good, loving, influential people who make differences in their own ways. Sort of like the premise of the movie "Pay It Forward"... I can raise two good people who each will have their own legacy reaching multiple others, who will have their own legacies... I hope these legacies will be of compassion, strength, and dedication.
Every day, I will try to model these characteristics for Abbie and Sam. I will try to meet their changing needs, to help them become confident, whole, well-rounded adults who are excited about their own legacies, whatever those may be.
PS: Please stop in and visit with the other #MotherhoodMonday blogger moms who have posted today!
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