On Pinterest I was presented with a photo of a belt buckle. You know the sort that a wealthy Texan ranch owner would surely wear; large, flamboyant and ornate. I had no idea why this image was tagged to arrive in my search and when it popped into view, along with other unheeded interruptions to my search for ‘cute animal illustrations’, I was a bit annoyed.

I was looking for inspiration for my new foray into writing children’s books. With one or two in draft, I just did not need another disturbance to my concentration opening that door of doubt that is always ajar in my worrisome mind.

What am I doing writing stories that will never see the light of day? Why on earth do I think they’ll ever need illustrations anyway, they’ll never be published…

I looked grudgingly at the belt buckle, the leading edge to an embellished leather construction around, of course, a gorgeous tiny waisted model. The leather of the belt was mainly hidden because the focus was on the buckle itself. It was engraved with these three words:

DOT – DASH – DOT

I smiled and realised why this particular picture had peaked my interest, despite my reticence to look at its obvious marketing purpose, ‘Buy one of these and look amazing!’
No it made me think of my dad. During the Second World War my father was selected from the RAF to join the Security Services at Bletchley Park to learn morse code. I remember many years later my sister and I used to badger him to ‘code’ silly words that we threw at him. He would describe the coded words in terms of dots and dashes. 

Seeing those words on the belt buckle made me think of him, such a quiet, gentle man who gave me such support during every major challenge that is the learning curve of life. 

I always felt that if this man, so keen on solitude, could survive being thrown into a role he had not asked for, which had taken him far away from his loved ones, that any of my traumas could also be met head on, despite my fears.

“Be a brave soldier”, he would say….I miss him.

I glanced back at the buckle and realised there was some text beneath the image. It said:

‘If the two dots represent birth and death, the dash in-between is up to you’

Thank you Dad. Quiet, supportive advice as ever. I turned back to my search for cute animal illustrations, we only have a short dash to make our dreams a reality, better get on with it then.