So here in Second Life, I have begun this journey with friends, moving away from the old, and moving toward the new. We are creating, building and moving forward.
I can't decide if Real Life reflects Second Life or the other way around but I'm walking a journey there as well.
I can't remember when it happened now, or even which funeral it was we had gone to (there were so many...) but I remember coming home and sitting together in the living room, and my mother told me: "Every time a person dies, it's like a library has burned down."
I know I will leave a legacy behind.
Granted, I'm not a political advocate, or a movie star, or anyone famous for that matter. The three children's books I wrote with a companion when I lived in my last home are still just files on my computer, and the novel I wrote last year sits, collecting dust, on my desk shelf, printed off but mute. I've never even bought the stamps to send them out -- some inherent fear that they are not "good" enough I suppose. So who will remember me?
I know I will leave a legacy behind.
In the last 11 years, I've been a teacher and a mother and a wife. I know I have touched lives. I've watched my students grow up, graduate, and have children of their own. The greatest honor that could ever have been given me were the numerous invitations to weddings and baby showers I've gotten over the years from men and women who I knew as awkward high school teenagers, and who have now become successful adults... who remember me... and say I touched their lives.
I know I will leave a legacy behind.
But I can't bear the thought that my library will burn. That with me, the memories and thoughts and dreams and hopes that I have nurtured in my heart since I could first form coherent thought, might die and never be a part of my children's lives.
I know they will remember me. That's not the point. But do they know me? Will they be able to tell their own children a story or two and then say, "That was my mother." When I die, will they see the woman in the coffin? Or will their mind's eye take them back so that they can see the mother who gave them bad haircuts at home, couldn't play Wii to save her life, and burned the peanut butter cookies (every single time)?
I know I will leave a legacy behind. And this is how I choose to do it. My writing is and has always been my "voice." These are the scrolls I've saved from death's fires. And I leave them to you.
The American Cancer Society has created a support network for cancer survivors and their families in Second Life. Visit the Sim for pro-active information, letters, and social events (including live support group meetings).
Click HERE to TP to the American Cancer Society in Second Life network.
Please follow the links below for breast cancer support and information:
Pink Ribbon International
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation
For BRACA1 and BRACA2 information as well as prophylactic surgery links go to the following:
National Cancer Institute
Breast Cancer.org
Protect women. Support legislation that prevents insurance carriers from denying women who test positive for the BRACA1 or BRACA2 gene mutation. For information on GINA (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act) go to:
National Human Genome Research Institute
I can't decide if Real Life reflects Second Life or the other way around but I'm walking a journey there as well.
I can't remember when it happened now, or even which funeral it was we had gone to (there were so many...) but I remember coming home and sitting together in the living room, and my mother told me: "Every time a person dies, it's like a library has burned down."
I know I will leave a legacy behind.
Granted, I'm not a political advocate, or a movie star, or anyone famous for that matter. The three children's books I wrote with a companion when I lived in my last home are still just files on my computer, and the novel I wrote last year sits, collecting dust, on my desk shelf, printed off but mute. I've never even bought the stamps to send them out -- some inherent fear that they are not "good" enough I suppose. So who will remember me?
I know I will leave a legacy behind.
In the last 11 years, I've been a teacher and a mother and a wife. I know I have touched lives. I've watched my students grow up, graduate, and have children of their own. The greatest honor that could ever have been given me were the numerous invitations to weddings and baby showers I've gotten over the years from men and women who I knew as awkward high school teenagers, and who have now become successful adults... who remember me... and say I touched their lives.
I know I will leave a legacy behind.
But I can't bear the thought that my library will burn. That with me, the memories and thoughts and dreams and hopes that I have nurtured in my heart since I could first form coherent thought, might die and never be a part of my children's lives.
I know they will remember me. That's not the point. But do they know me? Will they be able to tell their own children a story or two and then say, "That was my mother." When I die, will they see the woman in the coffin? Or will their mind's eye take them back so that they can see the mother who gave them bad haircuts at home, couldn't play Wii to save her life, and burned the peanut butter cookies (every single time)?
I know I will leave a legacy behind. And this is how I choose to do it. My writing is and has always been my "voice." These are the scrolls I've saved from death's fires. And I leave them to you.
The American Cancer Society has created a support network for cancer survivors and their families in Second Life. Visit the Sim for pro-active information, letters, and social events (including live support group meetings).
Click HERE to TP to the American Cancer Society in Second Life network.
Please follow the links below for breast cancer support and information:
Pink Ribbon International
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation
For BRACA1 and BRACA2 information as well as prophylactic surgery links go to the following:
National Cancer Institute
Breast Cancer.org
Protect women. Support legislation that prevents insurance carriers from denying women who test positive for the BRACA1 or BRACA2 gene mutation. For information on GINA (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act) go to:
National Human Genome Research Institute
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