Death is not a new concept. Death is something that happens to everyone. Death is completely unavoidable. The effects of a person's death, however, are a completely different story. We see the faces of our favorite celebrities fade out of this world daily. For someone who never knew of our existence, it is crazy how much of the impact you might have to cope with. We lose teachers, bosses, the owner of our favorite bistro on the main street who knew your order by heart. We lose family friends and then family itself. Grandparents, mothers, fathers, siblings, and beloved pets. All of these come with different amounts of pain, different ways of mourning, different people affected, different people left behind, and different methods of coping. Each and every person who dies shares one thing in common though, a legacy. A legacy has many meanings but to me, a legacy is an impact somebody leaves on the earth after they're gone. A legacy includes all of the things that make it hurt so badly when we have to say our final goodbyes. How did they impact the world or the people they are closest to? It involves all of a person's accomplishments and people or places that they touched. A legacy is our way of keeping their name alive after they're gone. Some people may receive a large sum of money. Some people may receive an old family heirloom. But it is not necessarily the objects that speak the legacy, it is the surrounding effects. My grandmother's secret coffee cake recipe is something I consider a part of her legacy. But it isn't the small, 50-year-old, battered piece of paper with faded handwriting. It is the fact that now, almost 10 years after her passing, I can make her live again. A bite of her coffee cake isn't just a piece of delicious cake in my mouth. A bite of her coffee cake makes me smell that rosy perfume that always engulfed me when I got a hug. A bite of her coffee cake lets me feel her bony fingers running through my tousled hair. One small taste of that cake brings about the image of her overly emphasized blush and her box-dyed hair that was always the darkest black that you could make it. It is part of her legacy because it brings back every good aspect she showed to me when she was on this earth. Legacies have the insane power of resurrection. Or another route, celebrities. Whenever Elvis Presley died, we didn't just all collectively stop listening to his music. He is a huge part of my family, I know most of his songs by heart. He left behind Graceland in Memphis, TN. Graceland almost freezes time, it offers an amazing opportunity to see his life but also educates millions on the history behind his influential music and family. Marilyn Monroe was a feminist icon who I will always look up to. As a plus-size woman myself, she broke barriers and social norms of what was considered "Pretty" and she left that behind. With her life's work, plus size fashion is much more mainstream and now people of all sizes are represented in the fashion industry. The thing about legacies is that they are a relative concept. While my grandmother's recipe means the world to me, someone else would look and see a little old piece of paper and not think twice about it. While some are universal, you can't fully see the effects of a legacy on someone else's life. I am still a teenager. I don't know when I will leave this world behind. Maybe I will be old and gray with lots of grandchildren or maybe it will be tomorrow. While the number of years I live may determine the number of physical legacies I can leave behind, I believe my values will stay relatively similar. My friends would be left with the memories of the crazy, fun-loving girl that they grew to adore. I'd hope my legacy involves the remembrance of my deep care for others and intense zest for living in the moment. I know my friends and family will keep me alive.The legacy that I leave behind will affect each of the people in my life differently, they will each have their own part of my life to remember me by. The thought of my life overall is a huge puzzle, and they will each hold their own important piece.