Herman & Irene Levin, Washington, DC 1944

My grandpa, Herman Levin, was a special man who left a beautiful legacy.  Grandpa was loving and generous.  I remember Grandpa as a bit short and husky.  His gait was a bit more like a waddle. He wore contact lenses, or thick glasses the result of cataract surgery before the era of lens replacement.   Grandpa was a soft, tender, and wonderful old man exuding warmth and love.  My memories of him are lovely, bringing a smile to my face whenever I think of him.  But I wish I knew the younger version of my grandpa.

I wish I knew the young version that stood up to his overbearing father, leaving behind his orthodox world in the Bronx, and becoming a traveling salesman working the south by train.  I loved hearing the stories that he shared about himself, the young man who stayed in my great-grandmother’s boarding house in Dallas and met the girl that would become his wife and mother of his two children, my grandma Irene.  I wish I knew the man who had the courage to reject convention and embark on the journeys that took him to Dallas, then back to New York, and then to start a small business at a time when there was no safety net to catch him.  What remarkable courage and determination he possessed.

I would never trade the old man I knew, but the feisty firebrand is an inspiration.   I could have used his help to get me back up on my feet when I stumbled, to spur me forward when defeated, to remind me that the race is not ever over until you cross the finish line unless you quit.  Now with perspective and time, I can appreciate the stories he shared.  But when I first heard them, I heard them from that sweet little old man who was my grandpa, not the tough strong young man who would have looked me squarely in the eye and talked directly to me.

This is the power and gift of Conversations for Life and Legacy®.  By recording our experiences as they happen, we can share them in “real time” with those we love down the road.  I would not have heard stories from my grandpa, but instead, I would have listened to Herman;  That amazing young man who was willing to brave the storm and defy the odds.  Grandpa left me a wonderful legacy that I treasure.  But I will always wonder what it would have been like to meet him in his youthful prime.