50+ Lifestyles

“Go With the Flow”

By Nancy Stockwell
Marketing Consultant
Ridgecrest Village

I have been blessed in working with many wonderful families during my career. Recently a wonderful woman whom I consider myself lucky to have known passed from this life. Her sudden passing was a shock to us all.

She was a very special kind of lady. The kind of lady that we hope for our daughters and ourselves to become. I never heard her speak harshly of anyone or any circumstance no matter how unfair or difficult it seemed. “You have to go with the flow,” she would tell me with a smile on her face so warm and kind and big that her eyes would near squint shut.

I would often seek out her advice and loved to just sit and talk to her about life. She was like a walking, breathing lesson on how to live life. How to appreciate it, feel it and learn from it. She had a way of simplifying life’s lessons and making life seem just a little less complicated. I think of our conversations when I am having a bad day. I remember the times she’d give me advice that would seem so obvious that I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t thought of it myself. A couple times when I said that to her she told me, “you knew it, sometimes you need someone to remind you of what you know.”

Her answers to some of my problems, the world’s problems or whatever we talked about that day truly were things that all of us know but sometimes need reminded of. “Go with the flow, be kind to each other, keep an open mind, appreciate the little things, look for the good in others, focus on what you have not what you want, use your manners and say please/thank you/you’re welcome, love your family no matter what because they will always be there for you. Smile, always smile, just be happy that you’re here.

She could always tell when I was having a down day, or when I was struggling with life’s circumstances. She would tell me not to worry about what other people thought, do what I thought was right. She always encouraged me to be the person I wanted to be. I hope someday, someone remembers me with that same way.

If you have a person like her in your life, be thankful, not everyone does. If you don’t have a person like her in your life I am proud and honored to share her life’s wisdom with you. Don’t complain or worry because it doesn’t help anything….. just go with the flow.

Thanks, V. I love & miss you!!