My Family Legacy

This weekend the Savage Girl is getting to celebrate a few family milestones on my maternal side of the family. I had one cousin graduate from high school and another cousin is about to give birth to her first baby so a baby shower is planned for tomorrow afternoon. These milestones indirectly affect me since my extended family is expanding and new paths are being embarked on. All this got me to thinking about our family legacy.

Bonnie on graduation day...and yes she got her very own electric man for her
dorm room from yours truely!

I have always heard that cousins are a childs first best friends! Oh the stories we could tell on each other from our days on the Craighead farm! Here are some of my cousins recently at Sara's baby shower in December. Now Mallory is about ready to have her little one too!  

Each day we are writing our history and life story whether we realize it or not. We need to take time to reflect on the things that are truly important and worth preserving  for others to view and remember us by in order to help preserve our legacy into the future. Everyone has things within their life that they feel is important and worth reflection time but sometimes we forget to communicate our legacy to others on why it is important to us. I feel that my parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents have done a pretty good job communicating our family legacy on to the next generation of Craighead youth. It is exciting to see my cousins now as they are opening new life chapters and carrying on that legacy into the future. My hope and dream is that one day I can do this too if it is God’s will and plan for me to have children of my own.

My great-grandparents Hazel & Homer Gates. 

My grandparents Ralph and Jo Frances Craighead.

 

My parents Leah and Charles Savage.

I believe there was a theme to this Craighead family legacy. All of us grandchildren I believe were passed on this family legacy that consisted of values, beliefs, and the love for heirlooms and preserving the family history. Some have chosen to let it impact their life and change their family and or individual history. It has impacted us all differently! This is not to say that we all have followed the same path or that we are all clones of one another. Trust me we have all made our own fair share of mistakes and some have even had their our own off road adventures in life. We are human and life happens! But I believe because our family history was passed down through the years we now can see certain values, principles, and beliefs that are repeated in each generation. Hence now why it is a legacy that I believe we are continuing to pass down. In a nutshell here is what I believe our family legacy consists of…

• Belief that there is one church, one God, and one truth. We each were taught that we all have the responsibility to think, believe, and obey the truth but if we want God’s acceptance then we must be willing to accept what was taught in the beginning and not ignore the teachings of the bible and the examples we can learn from it.
• Education is very important and your daily attendance is crucial when it comes to attending school. Continuing your education is a must! It is the door opener to the future and the opportunities that lie ahead. Learning is lifelong and doesn’t stop in the classroom. Learning is an exploration of yourself and the things around you. You must ask questions and inquire to learn new things in order to continue learning and fully understand life.
• Service others and give back to your community whether it is within your life work and career or your personal free time. Give selflessly of yourself in order to make a difference and help make small changes for the total overall larger life picture. Volunteer your time and energy, but do not expect anything back in return.
• Provide leadership for the things you are passionate about. Step up and be a leader if you are needed because it is a job, someone has to do it, and so it might as well be you.
• Cherish the things you love and the things that make you happy. For some within my family that means holding on to family heirlooms and historical family pieces so that the future can know the past by passing the information forward.    

No, my cousins and I did not go to family legacy school. These were just small things in life that I believe that our parents and our grandparents instilled in us through the life they lived and the example they set forth. If only they could see us now! I can see the impact of the family legacy within each of our lives. I am sure they would be very proud and beaming with joy from all of our achievements. I am pretty confident that there are more turns and roadblocks ahead for us but I believe our future is bright and that the legacy will be remembered and carried forward!  

Are you leaving a family legacy? If you have not ever thought about it maybe you should reflect a little and see where you want your family legacy to be. Who knows you might change your family tree!