Special Guest Blogger: Dolly Parton

Hello there, darlin’, It’s your old pal Dolly and i'm here sitting in Gods waiting Room (thank you Cancer) and thinking back on the mountain of hairspray and glitter that could probably be seen from the International Space Station, and I'm thinking, how on earth did a little girl from the dirt-poor mountains of Tennessee end up so goddam' famous?
At age 18, I packed a suitcase, a guitar, and a few weeks’ worth of canned beans and drove to Nashville, the city with the neon honky‑tonk signs and that was the start of a beautiful ride with an aim to make the world a little brighter, just like my stage outfits.
Now, I know some of you might only know me because your mama played 9 to 5 while vacuuming on a Saturday morning, or crying into your pillow to I Will Always Love You, the Whitney version obviously.
Speaking of that little tune, I wrote it as a dramatic farewell to my long-time musical partner Porter Wagoner but back in the day, the King himself, Mr. Elvis Presley, wanted to record my song but his Colonel manager said Elvis would get half the publishing rights so i said no thank you and boy, am I glad I did! Years later, Whitney Houston blew the roof off the world with her version in The Bodyguard. That song made me enough money that I could have bought Graceland lock, stock, and barrel so thanks, Whitney. I will always love you, indeed!
I’d written over 3,000 songs but I don't just want to be remembered for the high notes, the big hair, or the outfits because you see, I started out dirt poor. I’m talking twelve kids in a two bedroom cabin with a leaky roof kind of poor. We didn't have two nickels to rub together, but i said if I ever got in a position to help others, I was going to help.
That’s why, way back in 1988, we started helping local schoolchildren stay in school. Then, in 1995, I started the Imagination Library because I wanted kids to have books of their own and when disasters strike wildfires, hurricanes, floods, well, a Tennessee mountain girl never forgets where she came from.
I even tossed a million dollars at the Moderna vaccine research back in 2020 during the pandemic. Who knew my little ol' country songs would turn me into a vaccine-funding Rockefeller?
I wore heels that defied the laws of physics, and spread as much joy as I possibly could because at the end of the day, wigs tangle, makeup melts, applause fades but kindness is a rhinestone that never loses its sparkle.