35 of 100 – Cherish Your Memories

I was going through old photo albums and ran into one my grandmother kept from when my mom and uncle were kids. I looked through pictures of my wife and I when we were dating. Comparing the two, I couldn't avoid thinking how similar people in different generations are.

My youngest daughter just turned 20. Though it wasn't always obvious, she looks so much like my wife in her twenties. I look at my uncle in his teens and it's clear two of his grand kids (my cousins) are exact clones. My middle daughter and my mother in her teens have so many features in common.

We inherit so much genetically. You add to that a common upbringing, heritage and our culture. As unique as we all are, we have so much in common.

I'm in my fifties. I'm in that tween generation able to view my daughter's with perspective. I'm able to look to my parents and even my grandfather at 95 and see where I'm headed. I'm seeing this less as younger and older and more like people in different stages of a very long race. When you remove the physical changes due to age, we are so similar.

My grandparents pictured here were a couple in love looking to the future with excitement. My other grandparents pictured with my mom and uncle at the beach were spending time together as a family enjoying a sunny day. My wife and I visiting a park with our friends were a couple pre-children enjoying a beer with friends.

I can complain all we want. I can live with regrets about where life has led me. The older I get, the shorter life seems. I want to learn from what has happen in my past - absolutely. But more importantly, I want to live looking forward continuing without regrets still dreaming with enthusiasm about what I still lies ahead.

I named my business Larry Jacob after my father, Larry, and grandfather, Jacob, the black haired guy in that picture with my grandmother. His legacy lives on through me. I want to make sure I remember all these pictures. They're part of a future 50 years old's history. I want them to look back with perspective and see themselves as part of a legacy that preceded them and they they want to proudly move with into their future.