"On the dashes"

So I ran into an old buddy tonight. When I say "old buddy"I mean someone with whom I was once acquainted. I asked him how he was doing and he responded by saying he was, "just trying to live life on the dashes." I chuckled like I got it, and I didn't.

I thought about it for a few minutes and realized I had to know what he meant. I sought him out and asked, "What do you mean, 'on the dashes?'" He told me that it meant the dashes on his tombstone. Between his birth date and his death date. He was just trying to live, "on the dashes."

I was crushed. I wasn't crushed because I felt he had a defeatist attitude or because he was just "phoning it in." I was crushed because I knew exactly what he meant. I have mulled it over for hours now and I realize that I have a tenancy to live the very same way.

I'm reminding myself to step out, live it up. You only get to ride this roller coaster one time.

be good,

Ω