Even with kids, I think we never really come to terms with a lack of legacy. I'm still suffering from this "panic" or "dread" to leave some legacy behind, even after having had kids!

I wonder if having kids is a way to "trick" us into believing we are leaving a legacy behind. I know my parents felt more at ease after my sister and I had kids. I think they feel that all their hard work and effort won't go to waste. Of course, there was the bit about carrying on the family name and my father worried less when he got a grandson with the family name!

I'm reminded of some petroglyphs we saw in Zion. Some Indian, maybe 1,000 years ago, scratched something in rock and we found it. We'll never know his or her name or their hopes/aspirations/life. Did they find love? Did they have kids? Who knows, maybe some long distant offspring still lives.

That petroglyph person is long gone but that tiny inscription on the rock was a way of saying "I was here" because oblivion is frightening.

Thanks so much for this chat.