The following was inspired by the poem "I'm Glad You’re In My Dash" by Linda Ellis.

When all my time is finally used up and the physical me goesback into the earth, I will be referred to as my full name followed by two dates. The first date will be the day on which I was born, and we know this one already so we can even start to fill in the lines. Then will be placed a small dash, followed by the date of my death. For now the second date remains a question mark because I am still heredrawing breath and hearing my intense screaming tinnitus in both ears which saves me from having to pinch myself to see if I am still alive.

The dash between the dates represents all the time that madeup the life span defined by my name. During that time, I have lived, loved, experienced every emotion, and have had dreams fulfilled and dreams never realized.

At 63 years of age at the time that I start making this collection of stories, I am happy with the content of my life. Long ago I learned there was no value in looking back with regret. The past is a great teacher and useful for the lessons that you can learn but you get no benefit from any guilt you think you have to take out of it. I did my best to learn from the experiences that I gathered along the way from the first date to the second, the term of the dash.

I reminisce in my mind about particularly memorable eventsand times and I realize that I am reviewing events that are all held within and represented by that dash. Absolutely unchangeable now, so for what they are worth, they are the parts of the picture that I have to call my life. These writings are the remembrances of those times that are the bits of my dash.

Throughout this text, as well as stories of particularevents and places and people, I have written some of my feelings and attitudes to some of life’s situations and institutions. In particular I discuss religion and god because my life has been very greatly impacted by the imposition of differing belief systems at different times. Note that in every instance, god is spelled with a small g. This is deliberate as that word is only a reference for that which is transcendent, and should not be capitalized in my opinion because doing so only serves to distort the viewpoint of the reader for that very reference. Perhaps this means that I finally end up in ignosticism - the idea that every theological position assumes too much about the concept of god including concepts of faith, spirituality, heaven, hell, afterlife, damnation,
salvation, sin and the soul.

"I'm GladYou're In My 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 hertombstone,
From the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came her date of birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all thetime
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 andlove
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long andhard...
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much timeis 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's being read
With your life's actions to rehash...
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

And so all the stories that follow from here come as Bits of MY Dash. This is random grab bag of events, places and people, as I now remember them. I don’t seek approval by presenting these things, this is simply to record them. For anyone interested enough to actually read these stories, thank you.