Tradition when you have no Tradition

So, I've mentioned lately that one of the things I promised myself this year, was that I would start getting serious about my spiritual side again which I've let slide the last few years.  One of the things connected to that is physically getting a new grimoire. (on the tv show 'Charmed' they called it the Book of Shadows, Which is both wrong and right. Books of Shadows is a personal witch's diary, a Grimoire is the group book/one that gets past down through family members)  You know, the original little black book. Which really usually weren't black, most were tanned leather. I'm getting sidetracked here...I promised myself this year, that I would get one that would stand the test of time. Something that I could leave as a family heirloom.

So far, so good. Right. Then last night, I had been looking at designs online from a few companies who make them, pricing what it would be to have a custom one done. And one of my eviler aunts saw what I was doing.  I didn't even hear her come in cause stupid me had my iPod on and back turned to the doorway.  Her reaction was "Why would you do something like that when you don't have a family? There's never going to be anyone to give it to. What are you going to do, leave it in your will to the mailman?"

As hurtful as it was, she has a point. I'm the first one, that I'm aware of, in my family history who follows anything other then Christianity. (Protestant mostly, a few cousins have converted to Catholic when they got married)

Had I not felt like I'd been verbally and emotionally slapped in the face, I would have said something witty like "all traditions have to start somewhere". But, I just sat there deflated for a bit, thinking about the whole thing.

Is a tradition really a tradition, if there is no one to guarantee it will be continued?  Then I started thinking about how no one ever truly knows what parts of their personal beliefs or practices will ever go beyond them after they've died. I hear people talking all the time about their legacy.  For those of us on this planet who never have a family of our own, who never do something that will land us in some form of a museum or hall of fame, does that mean we have no right to want a form of legacy/tradition? Should we back down and not strive for that basic human desire of the idea that something of us will continue on after we're long gone?

I've accepted the fact none of my novels will ever sit on a shelf next to Stephen King or Anne Rice, I'll never win a Bram Stoker's award or be read out loud at a Jane Austen society meeting. I'll never see my paintings in the Guggenheim next to the Pollocks or the Picassos. I'll never have a movie premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. None of that is in the cards for me.

The only thing I can say for sure is that I have to follow my heart and hope something of it sticks around after my body's beyond broken.