One of my favorite Ella Fitzgerald songs says, "We may never meet again on the bumpy road of [life], still I'll always, always keep the memory of...The way your smile just beams, The way you sing off key, The way you haunt my dreams, No they can't take that away from me." This is the essence of the meaning of legendary.
When I was very young, I was involved with a wonderful loving man. The difference in our ages was too great for the affair to last, but he taught me a lot. One morning I awoke to see him watching me sleep as he lightly caressed me. I asked him what he was doing. He replied that he was doing his memory work so that he would never forget his happiness with me when I was no longer with him. In a way, he was taking an emotional snapshot for the photo album of his mind.
No one awakens in the morning wondering what he or she can do to be legendary that day. It is impossible to plan ahead the quintessential experience we will create for either ourselves or someone else. It isn't a matter of what we do, but how we do it. There is another classic song that says "it ain't what you do, but they way that you do it. It ain't what you do, but the time that you do it."
The things that people will remember is how we made them feel when they were around us: how our smile welcomed them; how we stepped up to help when others stepped away; how we listened and comforted them without turning their story into one about ourselves. They will remember the tears we shed with them as well as the joyous, racous laughter we shared. In short, whenever and however we touch someone else, they are doing their memory work so that they will remember us when we have gone away. How we respond to others is the emotional snapshot we leave for them. This is what will make us legendary...or not.
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