Grandpa’s old watch still ticks even though he doesn’t. What you leave keeps going after you.

Objects outlast the people who wore them, which is strange to hold and also oddly steadying. A thing handled daily by someone carries a piece of them forward, not mystically, but because it keeps their habits and their choices in front of you. The same holds for what they taught you, which also goes on working.

If you have something of theirs, use it rather than storing it, since use is what keeps it attached to a person. And think about what you are leaving in ordinary circulation: the phrases, the small kindnesses, the way of doing a thing that someone will copy.