The Dash

A friend emailed me " http://www.thedashmovie.com/walkthetalk "
It was so appropriate, in view of my last blog, that I wanted to quote some of it here.
It deals with a pastor who mentioned that his friend's date of birth and date of death were known to all. What mattered most was the dash in between.
The whole article was written by Linda Ellis and Mac Anderson, and it is subtitled "Making a difference in your life."

He said "that dash represents all the time she spent alive on earth and now only her friends know what the little dash was worth.....
"What matters most is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.....
"Try to understand the way the other person feels and be less quick to anger....
"Show appreciation more....
"If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile
"Remembering that the little dash may only last a little while....."

There was much more in the same vein. Ruth's dash was spent living fully.
She was a nurse, graduating in 1941. I know this because she told me many times.
She had the picture of her nursing school graduating class on her wall, so it was available to her memory.

She was married twice and widowed twice. She liked to fish. She liked to cook and entertain visitors. She often took in our church's "summer missionaries", for a week or a summer, or at least for a home-cooked meal.

As an oldster, she was always pleasant and understanding. She wanted things done, but she always used "please" and "thank you". And she smiled, even after most of her teeth were gone. She complimented the kitchen of each place she lived, always finding the food "good" and the care "good".

She remembered her youth much better than last night's meal or this morning's activities. She read her hometown paper and remembered the parents or grand-parents of the officials.

She spent her dash well.