How are you living your DASH....................

I have never been afraid of dying. Even after this last year with all we have been through, death still doesn't scare me but after hearing this poem in my small group Monday night it has really rocked me into reconsidering death. Ok not death but how I live my life and what my eulogy will sound like when I die. I had a really hard time putting something together for my dads funeral. I mean what good can you say when some one has committed suicide. But someone, I am not sure who, said this to me, "Deidra you can't let the suicide define who your dad was." That was deep. I am still working that out in my head and my heart but it gets better everyday. So my point to all this is that we have to come up with three "dash" statements that we want read at our eulogy.

I am wondering what my dashes are? How is my life defined? Am I living a significant enough of a life that when I am gone I will leave a legacy that my family and son will be proud of? Or am I just going through the motions of life like the rest of the world. I know this sounds morbid with all the talk of dying but we only get one chance (isn't that a song). But seriously we really do only have this time between when we are born and when we die to make a difference. So my challenge is what is your dash gonna stand for. I will let you know when I figure mine out I am still working on it.




The Dash
by Linda Ellis

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
That can still be rearranged.

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 is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

© 1996 Linda Ellis

Held

Thank you God that your word doesn't say that our worlds will be perfect once we walk with you but when life seems rough and we don't have the answers that you WILL HOLD us.




Two months is too little
They let him go
They had no sudden healing
To think that providence
Would take a child from his mother
While she prays, is appalling
Who told us we'd be rescued
What has changed and
Why should we be saved from nightmares
We're asking why this happens to us
Who have died to live, it's unfair

[Chorus]
This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was when everything fell
We'd be held

This hand is bitterness
We want to taste it and
Let the hatred numb our sorrows
The wise hand opens slowly
To lilies of the valley and tomorrow

[Chorus]
This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was when everything fell
We'd be held
[Bridge]
If hope is born of suffering
If this is only the beginning
Can we not wait, for one hour
Watching for our savior
[Chorus]
This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was when everything fell
We'd be held
We'd be held

This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was when everything fell
We'd be held

This is what it means to be held.....

We are dog sitting for the lovely Nikki from Cliffs office and the boy is loving these sweet dogs. They are so good to him.

 

 

 

 

Lifes Adventures

On a Tuesday we had our friend Bob over for dinner. Our conversation topic was about living and experiencing as much as we can before we are too old or before we die. We talked about some of the things we would like to see or do in our life time. It was a great conversation. The next day I was on the phone with my Liz mom who was frantically packing for a trip to Albuquerque for a conference.

I was so excited to hear she was going because we were really wanting to go to the Balloon Feista. So I called Cliff and Bob and suggested we make the last minute trip to Albuquerque to see the balloons and reminded them of our conversation the night before. It was perfect my mom and Darla were going to be there and I hadn't seen either of them since May so it was perfect timing. So we loaded up the Rover with the four of us plus my friend Liz and her dog and set out on one of lifes adventures and we were so GLAD we did.

The ballons were incredible. If you live in the area you should make a point to go see them. I want to do it again myself. It was fabulous here are a few of the many pictures I took. ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!

 

This was the sunrise. We left our hotel at 5:15 after driving all night and only having a couple hours of sleep at best.

 

Hail Hail the gangs all here. One of my lovely bridesmaids lives in Albuquerque so she joined us for the morning.

 

This is called the morning assention. They put all the balloons up in the air together.

 

Check out his balloon with the moon next too it. SO lovely.

 

This was one of my favorites just simple and fun and great colors.

 

Look Zacky it's Nemo did I mention it was freezing and Zack wined most of the time. He recoverd himself though I will explain later.

 

It was so strange we would turn and look one way to watch a row of them take off and then then when would turn around there would be another whole group blowing up ready to take off.

 

 

 

We had a special thing happen to us that we didn't even realize what was happening. If you notice in the group picture there was a Santa. He was a helper to the blue and red bumble bees. We chatted lots with him and asked questions about the balloons. He noticed Zack was acting less then stellar and he walked over to me and got super close. He said I am going to hand you a card. Act like we are just shaking hands. He said every year all the balloon owners print up thousands of trading cards and I only have a handful of them left. If anyone knows that I have them they will swarm me and it will be total chaos. Well being new to the balloon fest I had no idea what he was talking about but went along with him. He shook my hand and handed me a card. It was like a drug deal for sure:) So a few minutes later this girl walks up to him and says do you have any trading cards. He politely said no we are all out you have to come earlier in the week to get those. So we felt privelegded to have a card of the bumble bees that hold hands. Which I think my mom eventually ended up with.

 

Yes this is Darth Fader in all his big glory.

 

As the sun came up and the balloons started to thin out our little boys spirits started to rise.

 

 

 

 

I love this shot.

This expensive ride is what changed his attitude. Once he realized that there were bounce houses and this trampoline contraption he was a happy camper.

 

 

 

 

We had a really great time. We ate Sadies for dinner which is one of my favorite places in the world to eat. And I got to spend some time alone with Katie which hasn't happened for years and we had great conversation and some serious laughs.

My cute boy, my niece Kaycee, and the greatest wedding ever!!!!!!!!!