Reporter turned candle maker and tourism promoter by
DANA HAYNES Always get up after you fall. I spent a lot of time at the roller rink
as a kid. While that describes most children of the 70s and 80s, I was there every day of the week after I joined the figure skating club when I was seven. I know what you’re thinking – figure skating on roller skates? Yes, jumps and spins on roller skates! It has always brought a smirk to the faces of my friends, but spending all those hours at the rink really taught me a valuable life lesson. Getting up after a bad fall isn’t easy, but you have to pull yourself together and try again. (and believe me, you fall a lot trying to master a sport like artistic roller skating!) But I never dreamed how that simple lesson would come in handy throughout my life. There is nothing like a mother’s love. I was raised by a single mother on a shoe-string paycheck. She successfully convinced me that hard work and a good education would take me everywhere I wanted to go in life. a strong christian, strict parent, incredible seamstress and expert pie-maker, my mother influenced and shaped me into who I am today. But her life was sharply cut short and her death profoundly changed me forever. You can survive after tragedy. Just out of college, I was working as a newsroom intern at KIVI television in Boise, Idaho, when my mom got sick. at just 57 years old, doctors tested her for every logical disease that might strike someone of her age; cancer, liver disease and crohn’s Disease all came back negative. test after test, doctors couldn’t figure out what was causing her extreme fatigue and weight loss. But finally, even though it wasn’t logical, my mother was tested for hIV. and sadly, it was positive. This diagnosis came so late into the progression of the disease that my mother only survived for nine months. And her death knocked me to the ground. With my dream career progressing after being hired as a weekend news reporter in Boise, the only emotions I could feel were sorrow and loneliness. My grief darkened what should have been a very exciting time in my life and my biggest supporter was gone. But taking that lesson I learned as a child, I was slowly able to pull myself up again. Careers can be fun. It’s been nearly 20 years since my mother
passed away and while I miss her, I haven’t missed out on a full life. Because of my career in television news, there were always plenty of exciting times. Who can forget meeting rosie o’Donnell at the height of the Rosie O’Donnell Show? Just after I was hired at KhQ in 1996, I was picked as a “rosie look alike” and the station sent me to new York to appear on her show. that same trip, I met tom Brokaw (one of my professional heroes) and watched him anchor Nightly News. The very next evening, my photographer and I were the only people in the iconic Saturday Night Live studio at rockefeller center watching the show’s friday night rehearsal. I will never forget reporting at the rose Bowls, ncaa Basketball tournaments and American Idol, which are
just snapshots of a television news career that I feel very lucky to call my own. My list of memorable moments is long, and is still growing. I’m now on a different career path promoting tourism in our area and pitching stories about our region to incredible travel writers from around the country. Follow your passions. My mother’s influence was also the
reason I started making candles as a hobby almost 15 years ago. She was an extremely creative woman and could sew almost anything. She made swimsuits, halloween costumes and even my prom dress! growing up, she taught me that a creative hobby was a great stress reliever. So after my crazy, stress-filled days in the newsroom, I would go home and relax with wax. A co-worker convinced me I should sell some of my candle creations at work, so, with embarrassment, I took a few to the office and as luck would have it, I sold every one and took orders for 40 more! not long after, Dandles candles was born and now my hobby is a business that continues to grow every year. It may sound silly, but this small business has provided big opportunities for me. I’ve learned new skills, met new people and gained a lot of new friends because of candles. I think that naturally happens when you follow your passion. There is nothing that I enjoy more than a Sunday spent in my candle studio, dressed in sweats all day with no makeup, just pouring candles. I truly believe without a passion, life tends to be washed with shades of gray instead of bright, bold hues. Ignore stereotypes. Whether it’s with my television career,
my new position in the tourism industry or my candle business, I picture my mother watching me with a smile on her face and pride in her heart. I have never talked about her death publicly for fear that people would jump to conclusions about her life based on her death. But the truth is that in my effort to protect her image, I was just protecting stereotypes. Simply put, hIV is a horrific disease that strikes million of people across the globe. It is an epidemic taking innocent lives every day and I truthfully hope that talking about my mother’s death might enlighten folks to the virus that is preventable and now survivable. Always be brave. My heart was deeply bruised by my
mother’s death, and the healing process wasn’t easy. It took a couple years for the intense emotional pain to go away and still, even now, there are times that I miss her so much that tears will stream down my face. But I know my mom would remind me of those roller skating days. She’d tell me to be brave and get up after I fall. She’d remind me that you might have to deal with being a little black and blue before you can experience all the colors of life.
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