I've been thinking about something like this a lot lately. My dad is nearing the end of his life and basically I'm the mark he's left on this world, literally his legacy. As the product of how he raised me that means what I do in life is in essence what he set up. I don't have kids myself and I won't be but everything I do and everybody whose life I affect is a ripple in the world that he started.

I don't really know what to do with these thoughts but it almost reminds me of something Pratchett wrote about death. Paraphrasing but it's that everybody dies twice. First when their body dies and again when their name is spoken for the last time. I hope I didn't screw that up too much, it's been a long time since I've read it.

GNU Terry Pratchett

And, hopefully a long while from now, GNU Dad.