It was my Birthday party. I chinked my glass and told the room I had an announcement to make.
Now if this had been a few years earlier things would have been very different. I would have faced a sea of ‘expectant’ faces. Then I would have watched those faces turn to sour disappointment when it wasn’t the ‘expected’ news of me ‘expecting’.
Then there would have been the ‘consoling’ comments, the ‘you’d better hurry up’ comments, the ‘maybe it wasn’t meant to be’ comments, the ‘what’s wrong with you’ comments, the ‘well I guess you could just adopt’ comments, the ‘don’t you like children?’ comments. I could go on but you probably get the picture.
A few years earlier I would have felt sick to my stomach with the heartache. I would have disappeared to the bathroom for a cry.
But this was different. This time I felt excited and happy.
As you all know, I wont be leaving a genetic legacy behind me on this earth. So instead, I have decided to leave a genetic legacy behind me somewhere else. I am sending my DNA to the Moon! To be preserved for all eternity, or until such time as some future human, or alien, decides to reconstitute me.
There were gasps of surprise, shock and delight. Yes, as a special Birthday gift to myself I was taking part in a project to preserve the DNA of humans, other animals and plant species at the North Pole of the Moon. I was going to outer space!
Will there be a mini-me running around in the far future? Who knows? Will I be part of a scheme to re populate the Earth after we’ve made a terrible mess of our home and wiped out our own species? Who knows? Will I be selected to travel to the far reaches of the Solar system in search of a new place to live after Climate change has destroyed all hope of survival here on Earth? Who knows?
But that’s the same for everyone isn’t it? Who knows the legacy they will leave behind?
Whether someone has children or doesn’t. Everyone leaves behind an unknowable legacy. Our footprints make a difference, sometimes in very visible ways in the here and now, sometimes in unfathomable ways in the future. Every time you are kind, every time you help others, you are affecting the outcome further down the line. And the same is true for every time you are mean spirited.
We ALL matter, so next time someone makes a hurtful comment on your childless state, just remember, future me will come back and beat the shit out of their great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandkids!
Lesley Spencer
PS – Yes, this is a true story. Google ‘Lifeship’ to find out more.