with more space.
Jamie was thrilled with her gift and couldn’t stop hugging and kissing her parents. They all went to the graduation ceremony in her car, letting Jamie be the chauffer for the first time. The ceremony was a happy event, and afterwards all of Jamie’s friends came back to the house for a well-deserved party.
A few weeks later, Tom and Emily took Jamie to the national tournament. There would be one winner for each of the belt ranks, and everyone at a particular rank had to go up against everyone else before the round robin eliminations began. There were two other state representatives from her martial arts studio competing at different ranks, so at least there were some familiar faces for her to support.
The tournament took several days, and on the last day, it came down to Jamie and another third degree black belt from Oregon for the national title. Jamie had considered changing her style and letting the other opponent make the first move, drawing him out and setting him up for the defeat, but she realized that her more aggressive style had gotten her to her current position, and the finals were no time to be experimenting with something new and unfamiliar.
When the referee announced that the match had started, Jamie moved so fast that her opponent barely had time to register that she had moved before she struck him the first time. He recovered quickly, but he was off balance and unable to get to a defensive posture to ward off her attacks. When the referee blew his whistle to declare the match over, not only had Jamie won the tournament for her rank, but she also set a new record for the fastest win in tournament history.
Tom and Emily clapped and cheered as Jamie received the trophy – her largest trophy yet! Jamie held up the trophy with both hands and winked to her parents. She was happy that they were there to share her victory. Unlike many of her friends, whose parents rarely had time to come to their events because of work or other commitments, Jamie’s parents made it to all of her competitions and at least one of them came to most of her practices as well. She knew that they had retired early so they could spend more time together as a family, and it made her feel valued and supported that her parents thought coming to watch her compete was so important.
When they got home a couple of days later, Jamie looked for space for her trophy in her bedroom. Once she had it where she wanted it, her eyes fell on the “book” on her bookcase titled “Legacy 18.” It wasn’t that she had forgotten about the letter and the box, but she had been so busy preparing for graduation and the tournament that she put out of her mind the fact that she was now old enough to open them.
Part of her wanted to read the letter and try to open the box immediately, but she knew that the family gun tournament was only a couple of days away. “I’ll open the letter after the gun tournament,” she decided to herself. “That’ll give me the rest of the summer to figure out how to open the box.”
That weekend, all of the family met at the gun club for the annual tournament. Jamie did well, but was eliminated in the second round for pistols, only beating Ian who hadn’t practiced much and was using a pistol he borrowed from his father. As usual, her parents went into multiple tiebreakers before Emily finally won the match.
In long arms without scopes, Jamie managed to beat Ian, Alex, and Liam. Her dad was the next one eliminated and soon it was between Emily and Sophie. Emily won, as usual. In the long arms with scopes category, Jamie was eliminated quickly, and the final round once again came down to Emily and Sophie. Sophie was still a good shot, but she was no match for Emily, who won that round also.
After the tournament, everyone came back over to Tom and Emily’s house for the traditional feast. Jamie like getting together with her cousins, and this year there were some new babies in the family for Jamie and the other women to play with.
Just before dinner, Jamie’s parents asked her to bring out her trophy and tell everyone about the Tae kwon do national tournament. Jamie could have used it as an opportunity to brag, but she had inherited her dad’s humility and talked about how well the other competitors did and how well her teachers had prepared her.
Tom told everyone about watching her take on multiple opponents just before the tournament, and related what the master had said once the match was over. Jamie blushed at the praise, and she was happy to put the trophy back in her room so the conversation would move on to another topic.
“I want to thank everyone for coming this year,” Tom said as everyone was serving their plates for dinner. “Even though our family is getting bigger and more spread out, it’s important for us to keep coming together each year to remember who we are, where we come from, and what makes this family so unique and special. I hope that we never stop having these tournaments, and I hope that we never stop having everyone in the family attend.”
During dinner, Alex asked, “So, what are your plans for the fall, Jamie?”
“I finally decided to follow in Dad’s footsteps,” she said, looking at Tom, “and go to the University of Alabama.”
Everyone in Sophie’s family congratulated her on her decision. Tom and Emily had known for several months, but they wanted to let Jamie tell everyone herself.
“I’m going to study Industrial and Computer Engineering,” she continued. “It seems logical to be an engineer since both of my parents have engineering degrees, but I want to do something a little different.”
Tom and Emily both looked surprised at this. They didn’t realize that she had finally made up her mind about what she wanted to study at college. Jamie had always been interested in computers, as well as understanding how things flowed from one point to another, so the combination made perfect sense. They both added their praise for her choice, which made Jamie happy.
A couple of days after the gun tournament, when both Tom and Emily were out of the house running errands, Jamie took the book titled “Legacy 18” off the bookcase, sat down on her bed, and carefully removed the covering that had kept the box and letter hidden for the past four years. The wax seal on the back of the letter had a small red silk cord running through it and into the box. She tried to pull the cord lose, but it was attached to something inside the box and wouldn’t move. So Jamie carefully peeled off the wax seal allowing the envelope to come free of the box, remembering that her grandfather had cautioned her not to break the seal. The wax seal attached to the cord now hung loosely against the side of the box as Jamie placed it on the bed next to her. She opened the envelope and took out the letter.
As she opened the letter, she saw her grandfather’s handwriting on the paper. Good handwriting was almost a lost art, and her grandfather came from an age when this particular art form was considered extremely important. She leaned back against her pillow and started reading.
My Dearest Granddaughter Jamie,
If you’re reading this letter, you’ve reached the age of eighteen, and I am no longer with you. I wish I could be there to see the remarkable young woman that I know you’ve become. In the few, short years that we had together, I knew that you were special, but how special you’ve become I cannot even imagine.
By now, I would have already told you about your parents and the part they played in world events that are now part of history and legend. Never forget that it was their dedication to justice and freedom that compelled them to act as they did. But it was also their love for each other and for you that compelled them to restrain their dedication so they wouldn’t risk you having to grow up without one or both of them. They did this without hesitation or reservation, and it’s an indication of their ability to balance their passions so that they did what was in the best interest of all, rather than what was in the best interest of a single one.
This is their legacy to you – passion and dedication coupled with the wisdom to know when to intervene and when to take a different path. It would be good if you were to learn this and make it your own. It’ll serve you well as you go forward in life.
But I have a legacy for you as well. It’s a legacy that comes from the very core of my being. Put simply, I need for you to take up the work that I started. I reached an age where I can no longer help people personally anymore. I chose to guide others to help people on