Go With the Flow

I gave a lesson to my Young Women the other day on Optimism. The lesson pointed out how a go-with-the-flow attitude can help you be happier in the long run. I couldn't help but think of my mom, who is the epitome of go-with-the-flow. She doesn't get rattled when things don't work out the way she wants, she just finds a way to play with the hand she's been dealt.

I found one of my favorite examples of that come-what-may attitude as I was looking through my old journals. Please indulge me as I quote from an entry in my journal, dated February 17, 1990. I was thirteen years old.

Background: Growing up, my dad was the head of our Stake, which is a group of about 6 or 7 church congregations. Every six months we had Stake Conference, and often a General Authority came out from Salt Lake. We had several General Authorities stay with us over the years. It was kind of a big deal to make sure everything was clean and perfect for the visit.

"Today was a fun and busy day. It started at around 7:50. I got up and cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned some more. You see, it is Stake Conference weekend and Elder Pinnock is here. So, finally he got here. We ate lunch. They left for meetings and I had a b-ball game. We lost 71-25.

Then we came home to get the food and stuff for the dinner at the Stake Center. We were on our way out and Mom spilled the stroganoff on the asphalt. She was about to cry. We couldn't think of what to do. Finally, she goes, 'I don't care! We're gonna eat it anyway!' So we went into the kitchen and got a couple measuring cups, and I got another can of mushrooms and she got some more cream of mushroom soup.

'It'll have sour cream anyway, and you know, it was awfully runny.'

Yah! A great way to get rid of the sogginess!!! She took those measuring cups and started scooping that stroganoff off of the ground! We kept it a secret and were hoping no one would bite on a pebble.

Well, at the table, people were complimenting the meal and Dad was all bragging, 'Yah, that's my beef!' Mom and I started cracking up! It was so funny.

After the meeting, we hurried home to park in the same place where mom spilled so it would kind of cover it up. Mom spent many minutes trying to wash it down with the hose, but it didn't work. It was a fun evening.

p.s. Elder Pinnock calls me: Sal Pal Gal"

How could I not have learned to go-with-the-flow from that and the many other experiences I had growing up? What a valuable life lesson! Thanks Mom.