The "Tribute to a Good Friend" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was reading "The Dash" which I got last week in the mail from my yearbook representative at Jostens. Every year Al sends me a gift for Christmas as a thank-you for working with him and his company to do the middle school yearbook at Manheim Township. "The Dash" was written by Linda Ellis and dedicated to the life of her father, John William Hicks. "The Dash" is a poem about life and how we live. There are a lot of choices in our lives that we never get to make such as being able to choose to be born, who our parents will be, the country of our birth, and the color of our skin. We also don't get to choose when and the conditions of our death, but we do get to choose how we live our lives. That is what "The Dash" is all about. The poem really made me think about how I lived my life. For when you see in the the newspaper a person's name with his birth date and his date of death, they are separated with a dash. That dash is the time between those two dates that represents all the time you will live on earth. Pretty scary, huh? A little line between two dates is the time you have to live. I picked up the paper when I got home from work today and was looking, as I usually do, at the obits. I was floored!! Oh my gosh, one of my good friends had died! I had talked to Barry only last week asking how he was doing. I knew he was going through Chemo treatments and he told me to stop so we could take a photo of the two of us, since we were both bald now. Barry ran the Tag Shop with his wife Mary Jo and I made photographs, picture frames, stools, and mirrors which he sold in his store. You know, I'm having a hard time writing this. I knew Barry from when we sang together as 10 year olds in St. James Boys' Choir. After the services on Sunday we would hang out in the parking lot on Cherry St. so we wouldn't have to go to Sunday School. We went to church camp together and played summer ball together. I bought carpet for my house from him and two used cars from him when he sold cars for a few years. Barry could sell anything to anyone. He was a real "Salesman". I wonder if he managed to do everything he wanted to do during with his "dash". I'm sure most people don't. Made me think about my life and the time I have remaining in my "dash". I wrote a story about my Bucket List some time ago. I need to re-examine it and see if there are items I should be doing while I still can. Do I have any regrets in my life? Maybe a few. I always worried that I wouldn't find my soulmate, but I did. Always worried that I wouldn't find a job that I loved, but I did. Always worried about raising my kids, but they turned out great. Time to stop worrying isn't it? Doesn't matter anyway. It all works out in the end. Even-Steven! Dear Barry, may your soul rest in peace! I'm sure you'll make everyone in Heaven smile! It all works out in the end, remember. PS - I'm so sorry I couldn't legally reproduce "The Dash" for you. It is very inspirational. You can find out about the book by Linda Ellis at www.simpletruths.com