Living and Learning

Living and Learning

and

seeing beauty in all places we look

It's a lovely day today here

as the 4 leggeds once again run the NASCAR

around the pool

I was reminded by a reader

of the poem

"The Dash"

and

a gentleman who brought a typed copy of it

to me one day framed to my office.

He had told a story of grief through tears

of the loss of his best friend, his confidant, his wife

and

how that poem comforted him in his darkest hours

when a friend read it at her grave

as he felt his life was no longer worth living.

Words are powerful

and

sometimes

heal

when people are open to receive them

and

he had brought the framed words in

and

read them

with such emotion

as he re told his story.

It was the power of his realization

through his work through grief

that he came to honor

the

"dash"

of love and life

that healed his pain.

At times it is in the work we do

as he described it

that it all finally makes sense

in your heart.

Today

I share with you,

Linda Ellis poem

"The Dash"

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning to the end. He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears, But he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth... And now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth. For it matters not, how much we own; the cars .... the house... the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash. So think about this long and hard ... are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left. (You could be at "dash mid-range") If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real, And always try to understand the way other people feel. And be less quick to anger, and show appreciation more, And love the people in our lives like we've never loved before. If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile... Remembering that this special dash might only last a little while. So, when your eulogy's being read with your life's actions to rehash... Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spend your dash?? A marvelous poem a tribute to living and learning how we spend our dash that is so much of who and what we are how and what we stand for what we represent in our lives and the print we leave with each step we make on the hearts, minds, and souls of this earth and those we come across however long or briefly. I hope you are living your life today in great minutes of laughter and embracing each challenge but IF you are not feeling well today I hope you know you are being thought of and know that you are loved and that you find the reserve to fight strong and to stand tall ... Be gentle with yourself so that after you rest you will stand strong and LIVE that dash, making it a long dash indeed. Walk in Beauty DRSES www.drsherryeshowalter.com thoughts going up to all who are facing battles out there and challenges today. the gentle warriors are thinking of you fondly and strongly.