A Voice in the Future

Yesterday I went without a coat for the first time this year. In New York City the temperature set a new record high for the day of 77 degrees, a whopping 8 degrees higher than the previous high. For very early March this is incredible. Naturally I heard many people talking about spring. Even if we get a cold spell again before official spring later in the month, this almost hot weather is a harbinger of transition. And transitions are points in time when it is particularly appropriate to consider legacy. Legacy is a way to think about the past and to preserve the meaning in some concrete way that can inform the future. It’s like a personal inflection point: a turning point that promises dramatic change.

In our work as doulas, assisting a dying person and/or family to create a legacy is one way we help them to explore the meaning of that person’s life and to acknowledge the dramatic change death will bring into the lives of that person’s circle of family and friends. More than that, it is a way to allow meaning from a person’s life to continue having a voice in the future.