She would never ask but we need to help Eileen!

She would say no to this in so many ways, but it's the least that can be done for such a wonderful friend. I have known Eileen and Stirling for over 10 years. I love this family like they are my own. There is not much that I can do to ease the pain of this sudden passing, but I feel compelled to ask those that love this family to help. Eileen and Stirling have both worked hard within the community. Stirling passed suddenly Thursday doing what he loves. My heart feels pulled to help raise funds for Eileen's future. If you know Eileen, you love Eileen.

The post that Stirling's son wrote on Facebook today was poignant and worth sharing as our WHY.

Jason Flynn writes...

"The long story, short: there’s no real easy way to say it… on Thursday my Dad (Stirling Flynn) passed away.

It’s a phone call I’ve rehearsed receiving a few times, as his health was declining especially over the last year, but you still don’t know what it’s going to be like to get that call.

It sucks. The whole world turns upside down, and there’s no way to prepare for it. Although he was in declining health it’s not like he was in the hospital wasting away. I guess I assumed I’d get a call that was like “we’re losing dad, get out here”. Instead, that morning he had out to breakfast and went off to do what he does. And that was it… they suspect he had a heart attack. (I’m hindsight I prefer what happened, not a long drawn out event of suffering)

Honestly, there’s not much more to say about it from that perspective. We’re shocked and sad. The family is scattered in Georgia, Texas, Nevada, Washington, and various parts of California and we’re working out a plan to get together, and then we’ll figure out memorial kinds of plans.

But now the long, personal part, and where my personal “mind f***” lies is in the irony of the timing.

Just the day before, I had posted about our trip to Anaheim and how it was life-changing but I didn’t want to explain why. But now I HAVE to explain at least one piece of it.

The keynote speaker of the event was Ed Mylett, who has one of the top podcasts in the world. If you’ve ever listened to his story or read his book One More Thing you probably know where I’m going with this. A major part of Ed’s story is about the death of his dad… which until now, 4 days later, I couldn’t fully connect with.

But there’s one part in particular that hit. He had a story of a friend that was on his way to visit Ed at his house, and that the last text he received was just a few minutes away, and then the friend died. This all culminates with the story of his dad's death and how he wishes he could play one more round of golf with him. Or how he wishes he could share one more text with that friend.

And he made me think… if I only see my dad once every 1-2 years, and he has maybe 5 more years to live (and honestly that felt like a stretch), I’ll only see him 2-3 more times, ever. And I thought to myself… “shit, maybe I should go out there”

I just didn’t know that he would only have 2-3 more days, not years. The last text I’ll ever exchange with my dad. It’s a simple one. It was snowing in Aptos which NEVER happens. He replied, “Nice!” That was at 7:39 am pacific, or 10:39 am eastern. They’re not sure what time Dad died… but this text had to have come in what seems like moments before.

I’m really glad I sent him that picture. Just a stupid little way of saying I’m thinking about you enough to send you this text. Maybe I should have called. Maybe I should have texted more. But at least in that moment, one of his last, he probably knew I cared enough to share that silly little thing.

Anyways. It seems cliche but all this is to say you don’t know when the last text or convo is going to happen, so make it count. I already find myself wanting to tell him stupid little observations… it’s going to be strange not having him there for that.

I had heard the “call your parents you never know when it’s the last time” thing 1000x and never paid much to it. So maybe this story pushes you to do so if you’re like me and kind of “hide from the possibility”.

The other key point of Mylett’s is that “when we survive temporary pain, we discover another version of ourselves we didn’t know existed.” I didn’t know how bad I needed to hear that back on Monday, but now it couldn’t make more sense."

Stirling has some sarcastic comments for this entire post, but this family needs us to come together and bring them blessings. As a member of The Goddard School Family, I call on those touched by Eileen. She cares about her family, her friends, and her work family. Time for us to show our love to her and her family.

We love you, Eileen! On behalf of the Goddard School Family, we so appreciate your dedication to our school family, this is the least we can do to show you, LOVE.