They don’t leave us, they change us

I usually publish my substack on a Monday morning. Something happened today that made me need to go earlier this week. I’m sure you’ll understand why.

I woke up early this morning to go for a run with my daughter. The first message I was greeted with was from a friend in Los Angeles.

“Lady, I am so sorry to tell you this on waking… but Dolly Parton has left us. ❤️”

My tears ran hot down my face. My 15-year-old hugged me tight, knowing how much Dolly had meant to me as an inspiration. Messages have continued to flow in over the day. It appears my hero worship was a secret to no-one.

And while that message was crushing to wake up to.

It isn’t true.

Dolly Parton has NOT left us.

Because when someone lives a life so unapologetically themselves, so true to purpose and mission, and with such a great sense of humour, they never leave us. Their legacy is too strong and too powerful to allow it.

They don’t leave us, they change us.

So my aim today, and the challenge I set my two daughters, was to ask themselves at least once today: “What would Dolly do?”

Here’s how that could look:

Dolly promoted literacy

Through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, including our arm here in Tasmania, Rosie’s Reading, she is the reason millions of children receive free books and a greater chance at a lifelong love of reading.

So I started my day volunteering at Ravenswood Primary School with their reading program.

Could you gift a book, read a book or share your favourite book with someone today?

Dolly championed education

In the early 1990s, through the Buddy Program, Dolly offered every seventh and eighth grader in her home county in Tennessee $500 if they graduated high school. Dropout rates for those classes went from 35% to just 6%.

So I’m going to continue working with my fellow founders on Kukua Foundation, educating girls in rural Kenya.

Can you help someone study, make a donation to a not-for-profit or start a new course of learning for yourself?

Dolly supported the arts

Did you know Dolly was an uncredited producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

So I’m going to continue speaking loudly and proudly about my playwright friend Gabe Adkins, whose first play Enough had a sellout opening in Launceston last week, and also my friend Fiora, who is writing her first musical, Emotional Whiplash.

Who could you champion today? Whose art, music, writing, performance or crazy creative dream could you tell someone else about?

Dolly wrote

Dolly authored and co-authored books across memoir, children’s fiction, cookbooks and even a thriller. I have one sitting in my entry foyer and I walk past it every day.

So I’m going to keep pitching the novel I’ve just written, and today I’ll reach out to one more person to keep pushing that journey forward.

What are you creating that perhaps needs one more push today? What proposal, manuscript, or social media post do you need write?

Dolly knew her own value

I mean, who turns down Elvis Presley?

Dolly.

Elvis wanted to record I Will Always Love You, but his manager wanted half the publishing rights as part of the deal. Dolly said no. To the King. (Because she already knew what a Queen she was, clearly).

Then Whitney Houston sang it years later and turned it into the best-selling single by a female artist of all time. And Dolly still owned the publishing rights.

There’s surely a lesson in there about backing yourself, knowing the value of what you’ve created and being willing to say no, even when the person asking is Elvis bloody Presley.

Dolly, amongst all the other things she was, was FUN

She created a theme park. Dollywood. I’ve been there and it is the MOST fun.

While she never rode the rollercoasters at Dollywood herself, I certainly have (12 times back to back til I nearly vomited on a strange child next to me). And I’ll continue to be inspired by Dolly’s ability to joke, laugh, have fun and be unapologetically herself. That smile, that spirit, it was contagious.

So please, amidst the sadness, the tears and all the amazing memories being shared today.

Please remember that she has not left us. That she will never leave us if our lives are greater for having been inspired by her.