Something feels especially tender about losing Dolly Parton this week.

There are people who become famous because of what they accomplish. And then there are the rare ones who become beloved because of who they were while they were accomplishing it all.

Dolly was one of those people.

Of course, her career was extraordinary.

She came from almost unimaginable poverty in the mountains of Tennessee and somehow created this enormous, colorful, completely one-of-a-kind life—with thousands of songs, decades of music, movies, businesses, Dollywood, philanthropy…the list goes on. And honestly, so much of it I did not even know.

What has struck me most as I’ve read all the tributes this week is that people aren’t really talking about the awards.

They’re talking about her.

They’re talking about how kind she was. How funny she was. How incredibly generous she was. And maybe most of all, how completely and unapologetically she remained herself.

That’s no small thing. Especially for a woman. Especially for a woman in an industry that has no shortage of opinions about how you should look, how you should speak, and who you need to be.

Dolly somehow managed to say, in her own magnificent way: "No thank you. I think I’ll just be me." I think this is what I love most about her.

I’ve also been reading all about her incredible generosity and the way she seemed to embody: “When life gives you more, perhaps it gives you more to give.”

And I’ll admit—I’ve always dreamed of being able to give $1 million away someday.

Somewhere in reading about her this week, it struck me that Dolly was, and is, such a beautiful example of [spiritual] embodiment.

And the more I read about her, the more I feel she was the real deal!

Because it is one thing to talk about love. It is another thing to become a person through whom love consistently moves.

It is one thing to talk about generosity. It is quite another to organize your life around giving.

And it is one thing to tell people,“Be yourself.” It is another to stand in the full expression of who you are—year after year—without apologizing for your joy, your eccentricities, your beauty, your faith, your ambition, your tenderness, your humor, or your enormous heart.

Dolly seemed to do just that. I have to say, I've not been a huge fan over the years, but I sure am a fan now!!

I also recognized today that we did not simply lose a celebrity this week. We lost a beautiful soul who walked on this Earth as an expression of God's-light moving through one very particular human being. And when that human being is no longer here, you feel the absence of the vessel.

When I think about how to honor someone like Dolly, I think maybe we honor her by carrying some of what she modeled forward.

- Be a little kinder than necessary

- Give without needing everybody to know you gave.

- Let someone else shine without deciding their light somehow diminishes yours.

- Laugh at yourself.

- Stop apologizing for the parts of you that are gloriously, unmistakably you.

- And if life blesses you with more than you need, find a way to send some of it back out into the world.

That may be her real legacy.

I just want to thank Dolly today for reminding me, and millions of women, that you can be outrageous and tender, ambitious and generous, wildly successful and deeply human—and that becoming fully yourself may be one of the greatest gifts you ever give the world.

Rest beautifully, Dolly.

With infinite love and light,

Connie 🌹🕊️