By LaKeshia N. Myers
Representative LaKeshia Myers
Last week, I lost my Aunt Kaye. I’ve mentioned her in past columns because she had such a profound impact on my life. She was a phenomenal educator and had a near savant level skills when it came to cooking, sewing and interior design. She genuinely loved people and was adamant about maintaining relationships—she did this by remembering everyone’s birthday and wedding anniversary and making sure she sent them greeting cards. She was a stickler for handwritten thank you notes and believed wholeheartedly in all people—but especially children—displaying proper manners.
I heard a minister once say, “How will you spend your ‘dash’”—he explained that we all will have a birth date and a death date on our tombstones, but what matters most is what you did in the interim – the dash. My aunt lived life to the fullest. She traveled extensively, laughed a lot, lived a full life, educated thousands of students and made a significant impression on all who were fortunate to love and know her. Those are all things she passed on to all of her friends and family. Especially me.
When I was first elected, Aunt Kaye told me, “Enjoy this moment as it has been well earned. Do your best, and never forget the people who put you in office. Let God lead you—but know that when you do well, which I know you will, there will be those whose sole purpose will be to destroy you. Welcome this and use it as fuel to move to the next level.” As Election Day draws near, I remember her words. They are very true, but I remember the words of the hymn that say, “May the work I’ve done speak for me.”
While Aunt Kaye’s work is finally done, she left the charge to others to continue to strive to leave this world just a little bit better than we found it. For that lesson, I am thankful, it is what motivates me to continue to strive for more and to do my very best. I strive to be par, excellent, debonair and that’s better than ‘good.’