What will your tombstone say?

There isn’t a week that goes by that I think about my father.

He’s not my biological father, but he’s the only dad I’ve ever known. I’ve known him longer than my birth dad.

As a young man, he had everything he wanted. A thriving business, house, car, and married with kids. Then he lost it all. Divorced and broke, he eventually met my mom and found some peace, though he tried for years to rebuild his idea of a new life.

At 57, when he was finally gaining momentum, someone came along and snuffed his life out. A robbery gone south. That was 16 months ago.

I often wonder if he knew how it would end, if he would have any regrets. I know there were a lot of physical things that he wanted and did not acquire, but if he looked at his life objectively, I think that he would say he ‘lived the dash’ as best as he could.

Living the Dash

The Dash is a popular poem by Linda Ellis that encourages us to live our best life from the day we are born to the day we die, referring to the dash between the dates on our tombstone.

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 lived your dash…