What are you leaving behind?

I loved to water ski when I was a young woman.  It took me a long, long time to learn how to get up.  I must of had a million wipe outs before I finally took off with the wind in my face.  I eventually learned to sloam (ski with one ski).  Then I really thought I was "hot stuff".  One of the many things you have to learn when you ski is how to jump the wake.  The wake is the wave pattern the boat leaves behind.  Jumping over this is a trick in itself.  Yes.  I finally learned how to do that too. 

Now on to the life lesson:
Looking the  rear view mirror of life  we need to check to see what we are leaving in the wake.  I know one individual that left a wake of destroyed relationships.  They never stopped to look in the rear view mirror and check to see what they were leaving behind.  Years later the broken relationships remain broken.  The family involved stays disconnected and while some family members would enjoy a relationship with the extended family it will never happen.  People are afraid to get in touch because so much negative stuff was left in the wake of this person's life.  So again,  I pause.  What am I leaving behind?  Maybe it is not a coincidence that the family gathering after the death of a loved one is called a wake.  I know that I am going to be checking the rear view mirror.  I want to leave the world a better place and not a wake of destruction.