The best kind of people are the ones…….who see you, who hear you, who like you, who love you, who are honest with you, who keep you warm on a cold night, who show you there’s a way out when you can’t see one. The best kind of people are the ones who hold the door for you, who let you have the last sweet in the bag, who give you encouragement to keep you going, who remind you of your worth, those who hold your hand, who say prayers for you, who want the best for you, who check in on you, who make tea for you, who believe in you, who want life to be easy on you. 💞
The best kind of people are the ones who champion you, who talk good about you when you’re not there, who thank you when you are, who see you when you’re struggling, those who want you to have the best there is, who feel for you, who hurt for you, who walk this path with you, who comfort you when you’re broken, who check in on you, who send you songs that they think you will enjoy, who think of you, who smile because of you. The best kind of people are the ones who keep going for you, who keep looking up to you, who see you, who hear you, who like you, who love you (these ones are worth repeating), who leave comments on your writing, who ring your phone, who send you funny videos, who remind you of your purpose, who leave flowers at your door, who send you messages such as ‘please lean on me’, those people who make you smile at your phone, who send your gifts in the post, who help you mend your broken heart, who give you a reason to believe in the good and last but not least, who read your substack letter. 💝
This week I’ve started with a few words about YOU! Yep they are only a warm up selection of your wonderful traits but I hope you know how wonderful your friendship is for me and so many people who love you. You mean so much to so many and please know your moves as a human never go unnoticed even if sometimes we forget to say it out loud to you. This is my opportunity to put in print that I think you are an amazing human and please don’t let the world change that sparkly magic inside you. Keep believing. Keep being you. Keep going. Whatever your dreams and hopes are, you can achieve anything you put your mind too. You are courageous. You are brave. You are kind. Your are thoughtful. You are wonderful. You are a magic human being. You are a fabulous friend to so many. Your smile lights up the room for all who love you. Your life is only beginning in so many ways. As Tom Hopkins once said, ‘Never forget, today, you have 100 % of your life left to live.” 💜
You have a whole world of time ahead of you yet we all just have one day. One day after another day. And in this moment today is all we have. So enjoy that biscuit with your cuppa. Dance your way around your breakfast table. Call that friend to meet up. Buy that top in the shop for yourself. Give your children hugs and kisses galore. Say good morning to that stranger on the street. Keep being YOU! Because the world needs you and your magic. We need your magic! We need all those special traits that make you the wonderful human you are. See your small moves makes all the difference to everyone who meets you. And not forgetting by choosing to create love at every chance you get, your own heart fills with strength, love, resilience and hope. And that is indeed the goal of this life. Thinking of the stoics and the ancient roman’s, their definition of a happy life was defined by the virtue of being good. Being good and leading a good simple life brings about a happy life. And isn’t that what we are all pining for…. What are we here for otherwise, if not to be as content and happy as we can be for as long as we can be with people who we love. And see as we all know, happiness is for most, temporary… so therefore our contribution towards it, has a huge impact on our own happiness but also that for others. And that’s where friendship comes in. ❤️
Friendship is the key as my grandmother would have always said to life. See for Granny she never was short friends and the reason for that was she, like me, believed in finding her tribe & loving them. Gran was born way back in 1913 and left this world in 2021. Those number still mess up my mind. I’m useless at numbers at the best of times but when you see 1913 and 2021 together, it just doesn’t add us does it? Anyways back to my point, one of Gran’s most admirable parts of her personality for me, was her ability and williness to change and to be open to people. To live to one month short of her 108th birthday would leave you in awe of how many people she must have interacted with down through her years. The one thing I witnessed in my lifetime as her granddaughter was that Nancy Stewart was always open to making a new friend. Whether it was someone passing by her in a shop aisle or a neighbour up the road, Granny was known for her open door policy in her home and in her heart. If there is anything I hope I’ve picked up from Granny, I do dearly hope I have this part of her DNA. 🙏
As her life moved from year to year, I saw Granny lose lots of people she loved. Going back to her younger years she lost her parents, her siblings and then as time moved on and she continued to remain strong in her health, she began to lose her own children. Where does one even start with that statement never mind the reality. It doesn’t matter what age you are, it’s never right for your children to go before you but as Gran aged, these were all the hurdles she was facing. She lost her beautiful twins Margaret and Anne in their early sixties and that was a big break to Gran’s heart as nobody prepares you for that but with her inner strength & determination not to bring a deep sadness to the table of life, she continued to smile and meet us all with an abundance of love, hope and faith & encouraged us not to let death take away life when it is in front of you. Even though she was devastated as each of her people left ahead of her, she continued to believe in her own line that ‘Until God wants me, I will continue my journey here on earth’ and that she did. As the years continued to clock up, I saw Gran lose so many of her friends. One after another….numerous phone calls and many letters from across the country would arrive with the same message, to say the following ‘Dear Nancy, I’m so sorry to share this news with you, but your loving friend has passed.’ And when you reach one hundred years of age, you can imagine how many times that occurred. But Granny continued to live on and never once did I witness her with a cross word or even anger of any kind that she was constantly losing people she loved & she was being left behind. As she travelled from the age of one hundred to close to one hundred and eight years young, I saw this news been broken to Granny more times that I could care to remember. I often had to break it myself to her and even though she was clearly devastated by the losses, she never showed any distaste to life or God or anyone, that the rest of us surely would. I know I fear the day I lose anyone else from my life and even by losing Gran & my dear Dad already, I dread the next person who might leave my side. I am absolutely sure the resilience, faith and coping mechanisms that Gran showed in the losing of her friends, was something beyond miraculous but so inspirational. The reason I’m sharing this is that even though Gran lost so many friends down through her years, the magic in her that always inspired me was that she never gave up on friendship. She never gave up on love. It’s normal to retreat if you get hurt in this life but this was not Granny Nancy’s protocol. If anything she was the beacon of light that reminded us all and still reminds us, that even when things go wrong, even when the best of our people leave, even when we get hurt, we must keep looking up & we must keep reaching outwards. We must keep going. We must keep believing the good is not over even if we are feeling broken and let down. Our lives must continue…yes a broken heart involved….but we must keep making friends. We must try our best to live our lives as best we can. Because our time on earth is limited, no matter what age we live to, we never know when all this ends. And that was something that gran taught me. I often would have said to her, ‘Did you think you were going to live to this age?’ and her answer was always the same, ‘No Louise I never taught i’d still be here at 107 but do you know what, I always was just grateful for each day I woke up well. I never looked further than that day and all of a sudden I was here at 107. You wouldn’t believe it really but I don’t feel like the age I am. Your life will go fast. I promise you that. My life has gone fast. And the reason for that is because I’ve always had good friends and family around me, so even when bad things happened, I was lucky to have people to keep me going. And that is what life is all about. I hope I too helped others keep going as well. It’s important that friendship is give and take and we don’t give up when we are hurt by life. We must keep going. That is the key.” 🌟
And there it is. The best kind of people are the ones who help you up when you are down and in return you help them back. It’s that simple. Life is that simple. Granny was a simple woman with a simple policy that brought her all the way from 1913 to 2021 with a smile upon her face. And if there was just one thing to learn from someone who was here for so long and went through so much, it’s that. The best people have simple policies and when you love those who love you, love is returned to you ten fold. By simply living a good life whereby you want the best for others, somewhere in the magic of humanity, I truly believe goodness will find its way back to you 💙
So keep being you! Keep shining your light outwards even when you feel tired and weary. I know this feeling well. I write these words for you, the beautiful person reading this. But I always write them for me too. Because I too, like you have days where I say to myself what is this life all about. I had a very lonely 24 hours on Tuesday evening as I wrote this piece as I just was overtaken by grief and the overwhelming fact that I’m never going to see, touch, feel, hold, hear or love Granny again (my eyes filling up with tears as I type this) so in writing to you in each letter, I am too, writing to me. See nobody has life sussed. We are all just trying to get through it as best we can. The bit I hold onto most, is that no matter what, we can always help each other and if you were to imagine us all travelling up Mount Everest, the journey of life is a bit like that. The wind will blow and I might get stuck…..and you will step in beside me and tell me it’s going to be ok and then I’ll be able to feel I can keep going. And the same for you, if the weather turns against you and you feel a bit lost, then I’ll step closer to you and i’ll put my arm around you and together we will take the next step, even against the odds we will move forward. Life sure isn’t easy but it’s definitely made a lot brighter, lighter and lovelier because you are in it. Keep loving even after you’ve been hurt. Keep picking people even after losing your person. Keep looking up, because you never know who will catch you eye and in return, you never know who needs you to keep going to show that even when things get tough, we can make it through 💖
You are the best ones, for a million and one reasons and never forget that. The world needs more light. Needs more love. Needs more hope. And I thank you for all your offer and all the effort you put in day by day. You might think nobody notices but I do. The people you love do. The people who are may be a step further away notice too. You are a wonderful human and a wonderful friend to so many.
Thank you Granny for teaching me that life is for making friends, holding hands, for saying prayers, for laughing together, for loving together and even if you feel low inside, your light can still shine. There is a big lesson in that. 🙏🫶�
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I hope your week has been good to you Substackian family and I hope you have a safe and lovely weekend full of love, hope and even faith. Faith to believe you can and will come through any struggle that lands with you. I believe in you! 🦋✨🦋✨
Love and light always,
Until the next beep to your inbox,
Your friend always,
Lou x
The place in which you will find me 24/7 & where I share memories of Gran daily along with fun, messing, chats & lots of tea & a place you will always feel love, hope & a hug and where so many beautiful people await you….The link to that address is here - just click here 💖🦋✨💖
The song I love to tie in with the above piece is Coldplay’s ‘Everglow’. Take three minutes for yourself and enjoy. It’s all about the beautiful piano sounds with lyrics about life, loss and those who have an ever glow (YOU), that knock it out of the park for me is in this song. I’ll talk to you next week 💖 🫶💖
The Best Kind of People.......