the shape and size of our legacy

like a lot of kids, I remember dreaming about my legacy.  i wasn't familiar with the concept as a kid, of course, but as a youngster i knew i was destined for something great.  i would change our society for the better.  i would develop a vaccine, write the Great American Novel, or invent the flying car.  while i can't be certain, i think many kids have similar self predictions.  youth is all about potential and when you are a kid, you know it.  we are taught at a young age that "anything is possible" and i know it is.  but is it probable?  and if it is not, do we even want to know?  we all leave some sort of legacy, positive or not, and each legacy, regardless of size and structure, melts into the shape of things on a bigger scale.  the most difficult task is finding our legacy and embracing it.  i found my legacy at Tuesday Morning in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Tuesday Morning is one of those places that are in a strip mall, have a franchise name, contain a very odd assortment of inventory, and are usually quite sloppy inside.  for some reason, this combination of attributes is strategically designed to give the average shopper the impression that the prices in this local discount store are "rock bottom," " a great deal," and "can't be beat."  upon closer examination of the price tags (which, btw, always show the "retail" and "our price"), any one who has been to Target or WalMart can see that the prices really aren't any better than anywhere else.  location, name, size, contents, and sloth, however, is gripping and i am not the first to sift through the piles of wierd colored washcloths, unsightly glass vases, and very old prepackaged shortbread cookies trying to find the gold that MUST be hidden in this store.

my legacy sat quietly on the shelf where the clearance books were haphazardly piled.  not neatly and vertically stacked, as in a library or bookstore, but mish mashed together with no rhyme or reason.  it was a book titled "Embellished Crochet" and in the book is one of my published crochet patterns from a few years ago.  another person might hear this story and cringe.  after all, "discount store," "clearance shelf," and "piled"  are not the makings of the Great American Novel.  truthfully, it isn't even a pattern i like and i find it a little annoying that they spelled my name wrong (it ends in a 'z'...a 'Z!').  there are all sorts of directions i could go here, you realize.  in order to preserve my mental health, however, this is where the embracing steps in.

when i told him that i had a pattern in that book, the sweet man i was with grabbed it, turned to page with my work, and said, "that's so cool!" it didn't matter that the book was on the clearance shelf at a discount store or that my name was spelled wrong.  it made me rethink the concept of legacy, which i have been searching for in recent days.  so, yeah.  it is all a matter of appreciating the variety of shape and size.  occasionally, some one on ravelry.com posts their finished product based on my designs and i can embrace that legacy.  no flying car, ok.  no vaccine, accepted.  not QUITE the Great American Novel, but close!  as long as it is in a few closets of strangers and once in a while sees the light of day, it is ok to find my legacy on the clearance shelf at Tuesday Morning.