Success & Significance

August 15, 2015

Written by Marykate O’Malley, mother of three wonderful children, Gladwyne PA

He came with photographs, sepia tone and black and white. And took me through each one. My darling Uncle Bill, truly an angel on earth. “This is your great great grandfather, and the person next to him is”…. Photographs with people who look just like me, just like my children. They could be me, my children. Different clothes and backdrops, but people are people no matter where you place us. Same sorrows, same joys, and struggles. “Your great grandfather was never in photographs,” he said, “he was always behind the camera”. “What they will say about me,” I laughed.

And the following week listening to a lecture about how our lives evolve – the youth want success, those towards the end of their life seeking significance. What do I want? Wedged between starting my career and retirement. The analogy of living for your resume or your eulogy. Clearly my eulogy and yet…

I want to be remembered in small ways, in quiet ways. For noticing the silhouette of a seagull trace it’s shadow across the pavement before me, for pointing out cotton candy skies to my children. For picking up a smooth round moon stone for my daughter and tucking it in my pocket, or for the blind man who told me, “keep smiling” because he could hear my smile. My son called, “Mom, watch me!” ride wave after wave from crest to my feet. He followed my eyes, his smile wide. Maybe, I thought, all we really want is to be seen. And maybe success is seeing one another for who we truly are and significance is sharing that together. Through camera lenses, and eyes, through the heart – sharing life.