Try creating your own family crest. What an interesting exercise.

As a family motto, I knew I wanted to include the “ever-widening circle”—a phrase my sister affixed to our family when she raised a toast at my wedding four years ago. From there, I knew I wanted my crest to be round, rather than a more traditional shield.

The next elements were harder to select. Narrowing down our family values to just four was a challenge. Quite a few ideas did not make the cut, but these four—humor, creativity, growth, respect—kept returning as I sketched and made notes. For the symbols, I searched the internet for the simplest images I could find to represent each value. If I had confidence in my artistry, I would have drawn my own icons. Maybe someday …