Bumpa Prints

Most of us have lost someone we love. We lost Bumpa a year ago last month. He was not only my husbands grandfather, but a very, very special man. A truly unique individual with a witty sense of humor. He also had what we in the family call "duck" feet. A square foot with a high arch and flexible ankles that made the foot point "out". The picture shows their "walking pattern". These feet have been passed genetically to my mother in law, my husband, and now to our oldest daughter.
It got me thinking about what we leave behind, or pass on to the younger generation. Bumpa left many things that we now call "Bumpa-isms". We recently were together with some of my husbands cousins and recollected on a lot of them. Good times. I can tell you that my husband has a lot of "Bumpa" in him. That he inherited more than his grandfathers feet. When my children complain about being bored he replies with the classic Bumpa line " Only boring people are bored". I just laugh. Bumpa was also very particular about his toilet paper. he was a 2-ply type of guy; my husband dislikes it when I buy "Scott" toilet paper.. Bumpa was a very intellligent man who stayed in that "learning mode", my husband is the same way. (his current top book is "The Joy of Physics". There are many more Bumpa-isms that I could expound on, but you get the idea.
So what am I leaving behind to my children? The children of Israel did not pass on the "torah" to the next generation and there was mass sin as a result. I don't want that to be me. I don't want to get hung up on their academics or how much they "succeed" in life. I want to be like the apostle John and say " I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" ( 3 John 1:4) It's the best thing I can leave behind to my children. To know and love the God who created them, the Savior who died for them. After all, 3 of them did inherit my feet.