Worth Passing On

Our new feature: Links, quotes, big ideas, and small joys — all worth passing on.

An idea I’ve been grappling with:

The future you is watching the current you through your memories.

Future me will watch the current me as I move through my days –– snipping hydrangeas from my garden, rereading the same text message, and tears dropping as I click on my keyboard in the predawn hours. She will remember the way I sat in the car even after I pulled into the driveway and how I love to be warm and cold at the same time –– an open window while sitting by the fire, or the heat turned to 64 degrees in my bedroom while I am covered with the heaviest of down comforters.

Future me will see the backstage moments as my name is announced, and feel what it’s like to step into the warmth of a spotlight. She will experience the constant nag of an internal drive wound so tightly that I never feel like my efforts are sufficient. What will future me think? Will she look at me with a motherly kindness and wish she could impart some soothing wisdom?

I know future me will see how I rewatch the same video clips of my dog Penny, who is buried in the shade of a tall pine, her life cut short by a car. Perhaps she will smile, seeing the book I wrote on the quiet shelves of shops that line the streets of bucolic hamlets. She’ll see a husband whose pride beams from every pore and a mother who whispered prayers on her behalf each morning.

Future me will cry when looking at my children –– two of them blonde with faces and smiles that resemble mine, and two –– a redhead and a brunette –– that look exactly like their father. How small they were at first breath, and how wonderfully they’ve grown into excellent humans.

Hopefully, future me will be kind, as she watches me through my memories. I hope she will see a life full of simple pleasures and snuggly pups, moments that required great courage and times when I gave encouragement. I hope future me will love current me, and that the memories she watches will only get sweeter with time.

More things worth passing on:

From Carlos Whittaker:

“I recently heard Brene Brown say this: ‘People are not okay. If you’re leading people, you probably know, people are not okay. Folks are still going into Costco with an automatic weapon because they’re out of Cheez Whiz. People are emotionally dysregulated, distrustful and disconnected.’ I came to a realization: no matter if I am talking to my mom or 300,000 people, most of them actually aren’t OK —and that is really helpful for me to know.”

From Terry: “This beef stew recipe is getting me through the cooler days!”

Craig also has soup on his mind!

From Rebecca: “The historical fiction book, The Gilded Hour, about two female physicians (cousins) who treat NYC’s most vulnerable populations. It’s long, but so good, and it’s my inspiration if I were to ever write a fiction book.”

From Chris McMahon: “Everyone who is feeling discouraged at this moment in history needs to watch Eyes on the Prize. Just start.”