05 Sep The Princess House

I was working in my front gardens just now when something beautiful happened.  A neighbor, walking her dog, stopped along the sidewalk to say hello. As we chatted, she commented on how much she has enjoyed my flowers and porch decorations during the years she has lived on Main Street.

“My great granddaughters call your house the Princess House,” she said.  Sensing my confusion, she continued, “They think your flowers are so pretty and ever since the one night they saw the women in their beautiful dresses walking up the street to your house with all the magical twinkling lights, they have called you the lady in the Princess House.”

She went on to say that since then, in the evenings when I turn on all the lights (which Ron Layman of The King of Christmas so graciously lets me enjoy until October), the young girls continue to gush about the beautiful Princess House.

I am thrilled to be moving and to have this opportunity to once again explore my creativity, but as my neighbor continued up the street, I had to come inside. And I cried.  For the first time since we made the decision to move.

Next year is an important birthday for me, and I find myself already reflecting on so many pivotal moments from my life over the past sixty years. I wonder if my contribution has been significant. I wonder what my legacy has been thus far.

Have I given freely of my time and talent?

Was I a good daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend?

Did I make my profession better?

But then I realized….perhaps it’s much simpler than that.

Perhaps we are all here during this brief time simply to create beauty. In some way. In our own way.

Perhaps my “legacy” will be that someday a grown woman will drive by this house long after I’m gone and say…..

“I remember when I was a little girl, there was a lady who lived in that house who knew real princesses…..and I called her home The Princess House.”

And that is legacy enough for me!