In June of 1981 I graduated from high school. The future was college, followed by some career or other. July, 1981, Time Magazine introduced the world, and me, to a new disease: AIDS. Now the future was a question mark. College was only a temporary escape from the real world. In short order there were funerals, Act Up, and attempts to round up LGBTQ people and put us in camps. More funerals. More protests. Lots of living for today because there was no guarantee that there would be a tomorrow. For a lot of my generation there was no tomorrow. And yet some of us made it through all of this. For a lot of us it is due to Lesbians, who helped form communities and held our hands as we struggled to make our voices heard. Their legacy of helping and community building informed my life more than I realized at the time. I was lucky - not a hero. But I knew some real heroes. People who lived bravely, coming out when you could still lose your job, your home, and even your family because of who you were or whom you loved. People who bravely shared their HIV status with the world in order to help raise awareness and destigmatize the disease -in the face of tremendous prejudice, even from within our own community. It worked, and we all have benefited from their work and sacrifice. So what is my legacy? I can't claim to have any special insight. Old age brings arthritis more than wisdom. But I can share one thing I've learned that has given my life meaning, and that is commitment to others. To building and participating in community. Things in your life come and go. What remains are the memories and relationships you experienced. I came of age at the dawn of a plague that ultimately killed millions, but I lived through it because so many people came together to fight for humanity in the face of horror. The people whose lives you touch will live on long after you are forgotten.