The line etched into a headstone between the dates of birth and death represents each step we take on earth...and every single breath.

To many, it is but a hyphen...marking time between the years,
but in that little dash, is a lifetime of laughter, love and tears.

We each create the legacy our dash will someday represent and decide if the life we're given is truly lived...or merely spent.

Some deem themselves successful if they spend in large ammounts, but how you live your only dash is all that really counts.

Because success should not be measured in what you will buy, or own, but in the pride you feel in the person you're with...when you are all alone.

Time steals our days and hours before we recognize the theft and we live each day not knowing how much of your dash is left.

The responsibilities of daily life; the bills, the job, the cash, affect the way we choose to use this important little dash.

Life uses special moments, much like a poet uses rhyme to engrave upon our hearts and souls single, precious blocks of time.

We often overlook these gifts, though we may not mean to do it; we walk right past a special moment instead of walking through it.

These memories in the making, are happening now and happening  here; if we don't take the time to make the time, they quickly disappear.

To experience each moment, to laugh...to love...to live...to learn just how much to take from life...and just how much to give.

For when our time on earth is ending, we won't remember every day, but we will recall those moments we chose to live along the way.

Consider your lifetime as a novel-you, the sole author and creator,writing and living every chapter for those to read and cherish, later.

Will they say you lived your dash with worry, stress, and chatter or know you seized every chance you had to:
Make Every Moment Matter?

(This is the poem that was read at Mike's service)

Linda's 50th Birthday

Mike, Linda, Barney & Tigger