Legacy: The Dance Between Freckles and Age Spots
The other day I got a manicure- those “gel nails” the lady is always asking me to try. As she baked my hands multiple times I had the opportunity to look at my hands. I saw wonderful freckles that reminded me of growing up in South Florida. I used to hate when the sun would make my “born-with” freckles darker. I also saw age spots. I know that’s what they are even though I might be lucky enough to pass them off as larger freckles. It started to bother me a little bit until I started thinking that it really is the perfect picture of how I feel- young and old.
There are nothing like funerals and weddings to bring out those two feelings. I’ve had my share of funerals lately but last weekend I had the joy to attend the wedding of a special young couple. It was a picturesque setting with rolling hills. Even in the stark canvas of winter, it held its own beauty. The room was a symbol of its name: Legacy Lookout- solid wood beams, stone, candle light- all perfectly positioned high on a hill.
The old and young of legacy were in full form; the father of the bride, handing his daughter to her betrothed, the two young loves holding hands exchanging vows, and the old married folks handing down words of wisdom in notes and prayers collected in a lantern.
And after the ceremony the party started. One of my favorite visuals of the celebration of generations was the perfectly choreographed mother-son dance to Queen's "Nothing's going to stop me now." They held hands, released and “shaked their groove things” with a fun and playful spirit. It was a celebration of years together and letting go to the next.
This celebration of young and old is a dance I'm learning within me and around me.
I am learning how to embrace my age spots as beautiful battle scars rich with experience and hard-learned insight. And I'm learning I can still engage my freckles because I’m only as old as I feel, right? I mean after all I got out on the dance floor to Brick House AND Uptown Funk. I couldn’t help myself! And I wasn’t alone. There was the usual circle of women to dance with because our husbands are hesitant to bust a move. Except for those guys who own it- the ones secure enough at any age to do the worm or the sprinkler! (You know who you are!)
The truth is I wouldn’t change my freckles or my age spots or the legacy they represent. Legacy is all about the old and the young. It's about hands: dancing hand in hand with the next generation and when its time, you hand down wisdom, you hand over what you birthed and raised, whether it's a child, a business or a ministry, and you let go.