Hand-Me-Downs

Reading family histories got me thinking about hand-me-downs. . . .but I’m not talking about clothes or furniture or those things in our cedar chests. I’m talking about those personality traits, habits and qualities that our parents, grandparents and others who came before us handed down to us. I personally don’t think about these often enough to be grateful from whence they came. One of the wonderful things I acquired from my parents (but it may have come from earlier generations too) is avoiding the tendency to gossip. The other day we heard something about someone in our ward. It may be true, but it is also something that could be twisted and misinterpreted and cause damage if spread. Tom and I had a little discussion about it and that is as far as it went. I’m not saying this to build myself up, but because of the example I had, I more easily resist the temptation to pass newsy info on (and believe me, I was curious and wanted to ask someone about it). How thankful I am for a great example in this area!

Another thing that has been handed down to me that has paid dividends over and over again is the blessings of being conservative. Because of this trait I don’t care so much about having nice furniture (or whatever) as much as I care about have the books in black and a little tucked away. In a conversation the other day with a teenager (who will remain unnamed) Tom and I were accused of being the biggest tight wads on the face on the planet. Said teenager associates with kids who have way more pairs of shoes than we have in our entire house and who have enough clothes to wear something different every day for 3 months (okay this is exaggerated slightly, but only for effect :). And on top of that, we never do anything fun. Like. Really. Fun. Nor do we have very cool stuff like the latest ipods and computer stuff, sports gear etc. Tom and I sat there and took it like big people And then we were both thankful for both of our parents who taught us to be conservative. Someday said teenager will appreciate it too. (just a side note to protect the innocent. . . the tone of the referred-to conversation was not negative, just oh so teenage-esque.)

Creativity is another gem I received. Now I don’t claim to be anywhere near the end-all of creative because I know boatloads of more creative people than me, but there is a little bit in me and I get to thank my dad and my Grandma Porter and according to her, my great Grandpa Jensen for this gift. The cool thing about it is that I get to always have fun dreaming up projects. I don’t always get around to half of them, but the dreaming is fun and the accomplishing when I get to do that too is always rewarding. Creativity makes my life fun. So I’m so thankful for this!

One thing I received from the Bingham side is my desire for education. My Grandma Bingham graduated from college and I wanted to too. But not only that, I just always felt that I needed to do well in school to please my Grandma. I remember getting a note in the mail from her once when my name had been in the paper for being on the honor roll. And what a wonderful blessing my education has been in my life! I am so thankful for the opportunities it brought to me and the things I (hopefully) have passed down to my children.

So what are your hand-me-downs? What qualities are you thankful for that are gifts from the past? I’d love to hear about them, but if you don’t write them here, please write them down somewhere for yourself—what a cool thing for your posterity to know.