What Do You Want to Be Remembered For?

My friend Heather is running a blog challenge this month called Blog It July. (You should check out her blog, Write.Sew.Drink.Repeat.) She asked me to participate and I was like, “Yes! Oh, wait… I don’t have a blog…” And that is how Neon Dreamer was born. It actually works out really well, because for the whole first month that I have this blog, I don’t even have to think about what to write – I can just lean back and take advantage of the Blog It July topics. You should totally take advantage of the fun, too – you can link up by clicking on the lovely Blog It July button Heather created (it’s in the right sidebar).

So, without further ado, Blog It July Day #1

What do you want to be remembered for?

Audrey on a UNICEF trip

This question immediately sends my thoughts to Audrey Hepburn. I am a huge fan of hers. She was a great actress and an arguably unparalleled fashionista, no doubt about it, but my admiration for her comes from neither of these things. What I truly admire about Audrey is the way she lived her life. She was an extremely devoted mother, a sentiment both of her sons confirm. She never participated in the circus of Hollywood, and she spent the last years of her life working as a UN ambassador with Unicef. So, while most of the world remembers her for a cigarette holder and an excellent little black dress, the people who truly knew her remember someone else. A devoted mother. A compassionate humanitarian. A dedicated worker. I have no expectation of being remembered on the scale that Audrey Hepbrun is remembered. But I hope I will make decisions that allow the people who count to remember me half as proudly.

There are many, many adjectives I would like to be remembered by. I simply can't list them all. But I can tell you this much. I hope my future children will remember a loving mother. I hope my friends will remember a fun and dedicated friend. I hope to succeed in writing and publishing a novel, and that at least a few people remember me for the positive impact of that novel on their lives. I hope, in a general way, to be remembered as adventurous and open-minded.

I sometimes ask myself, What will I think about this when I'm on my deathbed? Will I regret this? Will I regret missing this? In a way, this is the same question. What it all comes down to is, how am I going to live right now and, more importantly, why? And that, that is really something worth thinking about.