Legacy — It’s the ripples that matter.

My dad passed on to the next great mystery this week, after a strong fight against Metastatic Melanoma. As we were going through photos with friends at our house yesterday, I found an album filled with memories of his trucking business — DuRegger Trucking. After my dad graduated high school he convinced my Grandpa to join him in starting the business, which they ran for the next 10 years, serving transportation needs in Southern and Northern California with flatbeds, vans, and step-deck hauling. The album is full of pictures of the trucks, new paint jobs, new decals, notable loads, broken down semi-trucks getting towed… documenting the ups and downs of small business ownership. Stuck in the middle was a picture of me on a stack of pallets at some shipping port in the Bay Area. I have many memories of being at the truck yard, shoveling gravel, cleaning trucks, and adventuring through the truck graveyard in the back… and though I don’t quite remember that trip, I do remember those pants, which I wore every day!!

As I was reflecting this morning, I was spurred to write a bit about the legacy we leave behind.

Sometimes we forget in all our “management” that we’ve got little eyes on us — watching and imitating our every move. This perspective reminds me to work in a way that makes my kids proud or at least in a way that isn’t an embarrassment. Treat everyone with dignity, do the hard jobs, and carry yourself with the mindset of an owner — because when you own something you care about the potholes in the truck yard, the…