Dolly

I'm not the kind of person who pays close attention to pop culture or celebrities, but I cried real, actual salt tears when I learned about Dolly Parton's passing.

She was a luminous musician. Her chops were unquestionable. (Favorite example: she hangs effortlessly in front of one of the heaviest bluegrass ensembles I've ever heard.) I had no idea how many songs she wrote, but her work ethic was clearly legendary.

Her NYT obituary tells the story of her life much better than I know it. Her family was so poor that her parents paid the doctor who delivered her with a sack of cornmeal. By the end of her life, she'd won eleven Grammy awards, and was giving away millions of dollars a year to charity.

Interestingly: one recipient of Dolly's philanthropy was a pharma company called Moderna. Yes, that Moderna. Dolly wrote a check in April 2020 that funded early stage clinical trials for their COVID vaccine. That's an incredible return on investment, in monetary terms: a sack of cornmeal, paid back with interest, as a vaccine for COVID-19. Of course, that's a simplistic assessment: Dolly's life and contributions were so much richer than a balance sheet can express. It's just a nice reminder that humble investments can pay back in the most remarkable and unexpected ways sometimes.

Dolly clearly worked hard to live a life of kindness. As best I can tell, she was a very nice person. How appropriate it is that someone so kind and hardworking achieved such transcendant success.

I have no doubt Dolly now sits at the Master's table. God bless her.