When my mother died recently, my family were overwhelmed by the wonderful messages we received and naturally spent a lot of time reminiscing.
Mum was born in 1934, so part of the generation who “just got on with it”. She rarely complained and played with the cards dealt to her; enjoying the good times and accepting the bad. When interviewed by the local paper, back in 1996, she said “I was brought up to think that you give rather than take and at my school, service was the most important thing you could do for others”.
I guess that’s why she spent so much of her time working for charities locally; first raising money for the Watford General Scanner Appeal and then for the creation of what is now Peace Hospice Care in Hertfordshire.
Mum was also the driving force behind Partners With You … always behind me and the team, supporting and motivating us … and while looking back I realise she has left us with some sound rules for life that I think are worth sharing.
- Ask others for their advice. You don’t have to take it but you should listen, absorb and then make your own decision.
- If you don’t have something nice to say then it’s better not to say anything at all.
- Don’t gossip. If someone gossips to you, make sure it stops with you.
- When you start a new job, be nice. And in particular be nice to the cleaner, the security guard and the receptionist – they are the most important people you will meet at work.
- If you don’t ask you will never know if the answer is Yes or No! You’ll be surprised how many people would love to do something for you or someone else … they just may not know how.
As the quote goes … \”On the darkest days when I feel inadequate, unloved and unworthy, I remember whose daughter I am and I straighten my crown!\”
As she would expect I will “get on with it”; we are open for business and even more determined to make Partners With You the business she believed it could be! I would just say though … hold tight to those you love; you don’t realise what you have until they’re gone.
