Living your Dash

Those who have passed were real people, but often become a dash, birth dash death. That’s how we write their data, but that dash is their whole world.

That’s all fine and good but what does that have to do with you? Well, you are writing your own dash. Everything you do can be part of your story, if you want it to be. That dash of time is so important, yet private. We don’t want the world knowing everything in our dash. Our ancestors are remembered when we add to the dash. When we learn even a few things about them. It makes them human. Makes them real to us and those we share their stories with. Not only does it make them real, but every generation builds upon the last generation. 

If you want to know more about why your parents do what they do, read your grandparents stories. If you want to know how to stay strong when life gets tough, read how other people did it. Learn from what they did and improve upon it. You’ve probably heard history repeats itself, but so does unknown history. If it is learned, analyzed and and improved upon it can be so much better.

You are living your dash. Right now.

I had no idea my love of musical theater came from both sides of the family. Feeling alone in college, away from the family, I read my great-grandfather’s story. He taught band and ended up teaching near my college town. Wait, what? Yes, Idaho in a small town called Ashton. I was shocked. In the short time I lived in St Anthony, we had put on a Christmas play only miles away from where my great grandfather had taught theater and band. And what did he think of Ashton: “ruthless, worst behaved farmhands ever’ I laughed and definitely could see how he came to that conclusion in that area. (There are also wonderful people I know from Ashton! But we did see that side as well when we visited.)

Another great grandfather sang on the radio, in shows and his children joined him on stage. Could be why I grew up surrounded by music and opportunities to perform and a desire to fight the fear and try. Even if I did it wrong. Knowing them and what they tried can give us strength to do what’s never been done, create a new way or think differently and confidently.