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Transcript

Legacy · Let's Ask the Mamas!

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  Speaker 1: We got a question for our American mamas. Dear mamas,
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  Speaker 1: how do you make sure someone's legacy continues even after
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  Speaker 1: they are gone?
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  Speaker 2: Well, let's ask our American mamas.
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  Speaker 3: Mama, mama, mama.
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  Speaker 2: Mama told me not to come. She said that ain't
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  Speaker 2: the way to happen.
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  Speaker 1: And joining us now are American Mamas Terry Netterville and
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  Speaker 1: Kimberly Burleson. This is an interesting question. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: where this is really coming from. I guess, you know,
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  Speaker 1: as we all pass on, I guess as it was
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  Speaker 1: in Ecclesiastes, it's all dust.
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  Speaker 3: It's dust.
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  Speaker 1: Everything is dust. Everything is vanity. It's all going to
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  Speaker 1: go away.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I've had, in recent years, I've had very good friends
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  Speaker 4: pass away.
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  Speaker 2: And I think about them all the time. One of them,
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  Speaker 2: both of them, larger than life.
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  Speaker 4: They were like the light of every party.
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  Speaker 2: You're talking about Denise? Denise was one.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And my friend Cherie.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: So losing them at a time when they were looking
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  Speaker 4: forward to their kids getting married and having children.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 2: It killed me because I thought after that, you know.
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  Speaker 4: Both, you know, Cherie's husband is happy with somebody else
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  Speaker 4: because I'm happy for him.
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  Speaker 2: And so is Denise's husband. He's happy with somebody else.
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  Speaker 4: And as happy as I am for them, I can't
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  Speaker 4: help but put myself in their shoes and think if
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  Speaker 4: I passed away today, because men can't be alone. Kevin
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  Speaker 4: would be married eventually to someone else.
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  Speaker 2: And I remember what... Men really don't do well alone.
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  Speaker 4: They don't.
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  Speaker 2: They don't.
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  Speaker 4: But I will never forget something that Cherie said to
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  Speaker 4: me one time and it has stuck with me. She said...
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  Speaker 4: She was scared. She was scared that this cancer was
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  Speaker 4: going to take her. She said, I want to see
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  Speaker 4: my grandchildren. I don't want to be that grandmother that's
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  Speaker 4: in a picture framed in the hallway where they pass by. And.
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  Speaker 4: And if I know she's got four children and I
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  Speaker 4: know those grandbabies will know who she was because when
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  Speaker 4: I tell you she was larger than life, she was
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  Speaker 4: everything for that family.
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  Speaker 2: And for all of us, she was just one of
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  Speaker 2: those people.
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  Speaker 4: So I know those babies will grow up feeling like
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  Speaker 4: they know her because of the way that we would
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  Speaker 4: do with dad. And our children that did not know dad,
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  Speaker 4: they feel like they did.
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  Speaker 2: They will.
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  Speaker 4: But I had that in my head when Steele and
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  Speaker 4: Tristan gave birth to Ridge over two years ago. I
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  Speaker 4: started doing things so that if I did pass away,
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  Speaker 4: I wouldn't become just another picture on the wall. I
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  Speaker 4: started videotaping our time together and started sharing it with
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  Speaker 4: Tristan because she wanted that at work. She wanted to
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  Speaker 4: get those. Well, then Kimberly taught me how to put
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  Speaker 4: music behind it. So I have all of these videos.
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  Speaker 4: And the purpose of it is not to show off
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  Speaker 4: my sweet relationship with my grandson. Not all the way.
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  Speaker 4: I do love sharing that.
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  Speaker 2: But it's for Ridge.
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  Speaker 4: When I'm no longer on this earth, he has proof.
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  Speaker 4: He has evidence of the love that we shared between
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  Speaker 4: each other. He will see how much I loved him.
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  Speaker 4: He will see how much time we had together. And
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  Speaker 4: when we were talking about this question, I thought there
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  Speaker 4: has to be a way for people to extend another's
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  Speaker 4: legacy within their family like we did with our father
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  Speaker 4: by incorporating them in your conversation. Don't be afraid because
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  Speaker 4: I find myself afraid to mention it. I don't want
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  Speaker 4: to make anyone sad when it comes to someone else
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  Speaker 4: who's lost a parent. If they show pictures of their children,
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  Speaker 4: my first inclination is to say, your mom would be
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  Speaker 4: eating this baby up. But I don't know what to
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  Speaker 4: say or what to do. I do say that, too.
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  Speaker 4: But I just hope that this conversation, like it did
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  Speaker 4: with our sisters and brother, You have to leave things
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  Speaker 4: behind so that people don't leave it up to other people.
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  Speaker 3: I loved you saying that the reels were like a
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  Speaker 3: living memorial. Yeah. Because I never thought.
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  Speaker 2: Of it that way.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 3: Because I, too, am one that is constantly putting reels out.
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  Speaker 3: And just yesterday or the day before yesterday, there was
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  Speaker 3: a young mom. She's a social media influencer. She's 26
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  Speaker 3: years old, four children, and she died in a car wreck.
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  Speaker 3: And she has a huge following. Half a million people
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  Speaker 3: follow her. And so I started seeing all these people
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  Speaker 3: saying that, you know, Mama A died and I'm so devastated.
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  Speaker 3: I immediately was thinking about her children, you know, having
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  Speaker 3: to live without her. But then I had that feeling of,
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  Speaker 3: look what they have. Look what she left for them.
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  Speaker 3: All of these, and it's getting ready and feeding them
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  Speaker 3: and loving on them and taking care of them. It's
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  Speaker 3: like she did create a living memorial for them that
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  Speaker 3: they will cling to forever. for the rest of their lives.
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  Speaker 3: You know, the Hispanic culture, they have the Day of
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  Speaker 3: the Dead.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 3: You know, they have this altar of their family members,
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  Speaker 3: and they honor them and love them. But I know
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  Speaker 3: that in our culture, we don't do that.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 3: We're not big about that. And the written word, nobody's
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  Speaker 3: writing anymore. Everything's social media. So, to me, reels are
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  Speaker 3: a modern-day living memorial.
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  Speaker 2: What I wouldn't give to have.
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  Speaker 1: But you're going to have to find a way to
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  Speaker 1: make sure you preserve them, because if that social media
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  Speaker 1: platform ever goes.
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  Speaker 4: Down, you lose it. That's right.
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  Speaker 2: That's right.
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  Speaker 4: What I would not give to have videos of us
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  Speaker 4: with our grandparents at that age.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we don't have that.
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  Speaker 1: When I think of, like, two things come to mind.
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  Speaker 1: So my father started a tradition at West Point that continues.
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  Speaker 1: It's the march back. So all the first year the
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  Speaker 1: plebes come in, they're at camp, and they're doing basically
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  Speaker 1: their first, here's how to be a soldier. And then
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  Speaker 1: they have to march 18 miles back. Well, my dad,
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  Speaker 1: as a grad, said, hey, do you mind if I
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  Speaker 1: march with them? I liked it because he knew a
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  Speaker 1: cadet coming in. And they started this old grads now
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  Speaker 1: will march back with the plebes coming in. And this
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  Speaker 1: is a tradition that's now gone on decades because of
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  Speaker 1: something my dad started. There's legacy. One other aspect to that,
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  Speaker 1: I think of Stephen Siller. Stephen Siller was the firefighter
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  Speaker 1: who tried to get into the World Trade Center when
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  Speaker 1: it was attacked on 9-11. He ran through the tunnel
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  Speaker 1: to try and get because it couldn't drive in. So
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  Speaker 1: he came in gear, full gear, ran a mile through
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  Speaker 1: the tunnel, got to the Trade Center and then died
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  Speaker 1: in the Trade Center Towers. His family created the Steven
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  Speaker 1: Siller Foundation. It's the Tunnel to Towers Foundation that people
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  Speaker 1: still donate to today. There's ways to keep people's legacy alive.
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  Speaker 1: If you'd like to ask our American Mamas a question,
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  Speaker 1: go to our website, AmericanGroundRadio.com and click on the Ask
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  Speaker 1: the Mamas button. Terry Netto, Kimberly Burleson, thank you so much.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.