Please Don’t Wait–Write Legacy Letters Now
When we imagine leaving an inheritance for our loved ones, most of us probably think about the cash, homes, or other material goods we plan to pass along to the next generation. But what if, in addition to the money and other valuables we plan to give, we leave behind a bit of our souls as well? You might wonder how in the world that’s possible.
Enter the Legacy Letter, a wonderful, simple tool for sharing autobiographical nuggets, family stories, lessons we learned from our life experiences, apologies, forgiveness, or the love and gratitude we feel for the people we will leave behind.
In a few handwritten pages, legacy letter writers can give one of the greatest gifts of all time, and it costs next to nothing, except for the cost of a few pages of stationery and perhaps a single stamp.
Sadly, most people go the grave having never written down their life stories, their values, or important lessons learned from a lifetime of experience. Consequently, current and future generations lose a significant part of their family histories or never know or understand the motivations of their elders regarding why they made the decisions they did.
Because most of us rarely document our life stories or write letters anymore, Legacy Letters become especially important and impactful gifts – more important to the recipients with each passing year. Legacy Letters can share the loving thoughts we feel right now but may have difficulty expressing in person, and also offer future generations key explanations and genealogical information which might otherwise be lost to the ages.
Without stories and lessons being passed on, younger generations cannot learn life lessons the easy way (by hearing about them before they have to make their own difficult life decisions), and most importantly, and we won’t know or appreciate the beauty, depth, flaws, or even dark sides of the people who helped to shape our lives. Without the stories and lessons of our elders, we’ll likely feel less grounded and perhaps bound to repeat some of the same mistakes again and again.
Several years ago, as COVID raged across the world, I had the opportunity to learn about the beauty and importance of Legacy Letters from an expert in this field, Ms. Rachael Freed. Rachel has devoted her life to promoting Legacy Letter writing among our elders. Why? Because she saw time and again, how important our written words are to our loved ones and especially to those who will outlive us. Our written words can enlighten our progeny, heal old wounds, reveal family secrets, express needed words of love and support, share our deepest thoughts and enrich the lives of others for generations.
In February and March 2024, I taught my first workshops on Legacy Letter writing to a wonderful group of elders at the Richfield United Methodist Church in Minneapolis. Thanks to Rachael’s fine training program, I was able to craft workshops that shared the many wonders of Legacy Letter writing. The workshop combined lecture, selected readings, small group discussion, and mostly the quiet time and the writing prompts needed to get the participants writing.
What I most loved about teaching these workshops was hearing some of the wonderful stories shared by participants. Legacy Letter writing is a soulful practice which I am honored to teach and participate in. It never ceases to amaze me what a person can write within a 15–20-minute timeframe. Noone needs to have a degree in English, or to graduate from the Iowa Writers Workshops. Legacy Letters flow from the heart and are a true refection of our honest and authentic selves. Despite having no writing credentials at all, people write the most gorgeous, heartfelt, impactful words that in some cases, might just change someone’s life. That’s what makes Legacy Letters so darned remarkable.
If I can leave you with this thought – Please write down your stories and ask others to do the same. Do it sooner rather than later. You and/or they will discover the deep healing that can come from sharing ideas, experience, love, and wisdom with others.
If you know of a group of elders that might enjoy and benefit from hosting a Legacy Letter Workshop, please contact me at [email protected]. Let’s talk about writing!
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