MORNING THOUGHTS ☕️:

What. A. Weekend.

We had a house full of Braswell’s as we came together to celebrate the LIFE of our Papa Tom. There were LOTS of tears, lots of laughter, lots of story telling, lots of eating, lots of hugging. Kind of sounds like a normal get-together for us…minus the tears.

We gathered SIMPLY on the back porch. His wife, his children, his grandchildren … and, we shared.(by the way…THIS is the way to go!) Watching this family reinforced what I said to Keith 25 years ago: “I love YOU, but your family sealed the deal:)”

I’ve walked away with soooo much after being Papa Tom’s daughter (remember…NO in-laws) for 25 years, the last 5 living with him. And I’ve walked away with even more after Saturday. To see the respect, love, admiration, DEPTH of character deposited, lives being lived in such a way that God and marriages and family come FIRST…to see the ripple effect showing up in his grandchildren and their lives…to KNOW that it’s because he was PRESENT and truly involved and loved us all unconditionally…that he kept his life in PROPER ORDER…well, that, my friends, was a life well-lived.

LEGACY: anything handed down from the past.

To receive and be a benefactor of what was handed down this weekend was an honor.

Papa Tom. Well done. Who you are and how you lived mattered greatly. You may not have been “known” by the world, but WE were known by you and THAT is where legacies are created.

Xox.eb