REGION — The concept of being a senior felt very empowering in high school and college, as we attained a status of seniority that was linked to a sense of having acquired a great deal of knowledge and experience.

Fast forward, as life does, and perhaps the greatest gift is to be doing something we love. For me, writing was always my first love. In 2024, I had an “Aha” moment when I saw an ad in the River Reporter for writers. I gathered up a number of articles I’d written over the years and before I knew it a lovely woman (now my editor) contacted me.

Finding topics that would be of interest to others was my goal, and here’s one such story that developed about six months ago.

As many people, especially seniors, are aware, the Summer of Love referred to the 1969 Woodstock Festival in Bethel, NY.

This story begins two years later, and it was still summer for two young girls who became close friends.

It was 1971, and two girls, aged 16 and 18, were working as nannies for different families at a beach club in Westchester County. The younger one was local and the other was from England. Given that they worked with young children, they were clearly happy to find one another for socializing and laughing about their days on the job. Over the course of the summer, their friendship grew, and Benita reached out to Caroline to come for dinner at her parents’ home. They continued to be in touch until Caroline went back to England, and then snail mail correspondence eventually stopped.

Fast forward 54 years—yes, you read that right—and I was at Bethel Woods, the new name of the venue where Woodstock occurred. It was September, and the Harvest Festival market, which featured many craftspeople, was in full swing. I was interviewing vendors for an article due out in November covering the Holiday Market.

I walked toward what I figured would be the last booth, attracted by the name Serenity & Co. Looking over the colorful hair ornaments, soaps and creams, I was clearly motivated by the name, which evoked peace and calm. The nice woman behind the table gave me a welcoming smile and said she would be with me shortly. Did I detect a British accent? When she turned my way, she suddenly asked, “What is your name?”

I said, “Benita, why?” 

Her reply stunned me. “We first met as nannies in 1971,” said Caroline—the same Caroline I had lost touch with many moons ago. It suddenly seemed as though no time had passed as we embraced. I bought some hair scrunchies and then was drawn to a cap with a dragonfly on it with the words: “whisper words of wisdom let it be.” Caroline surprised me by saying, “ I want you to have this.”

I recently looked up the dragonfly’s meaning, which read, “Connections between the physical and spiritual worlds.”

As we got to know more about each other, Caroline shared with me that she always “believed that if you set an intention and take action, you can achieve what some may feel is impossible.” Trusting in this tenet, she said, led her to a career in human resources, and during the pandemic, when people her age were retiring, she launched her own human resources consulting business. 

All this made me reflect on writing for the River Reporter, and as they say, the rest is history, and also a fulfilling life.

Caroline said that aging meant engaging more deeply with her creative and spiritual roots.  She then reflected on learning to knit at a young age amongst female relatives in the U.K. and said that “that heritage lives on at Serenity & Co…. I desired to create a space that people would find both serene and nurturing, opening this store with my daughter-in-law, Diana, in 2025.” 

Serenity & Co consists of handcrafted accessories, semi-precious jewelry, artisanal body care and candles, as well as hosting other local crafters. Embracing the dragonfly definition, Caroline added, “I am also an intuitive practitioner with over 20 years of experience, helping clients learn to trust their own intuition.” Serenity & Co., co-owned by Caroline C. McGrath and Diana Vega, is located at 1129 Main St. in Honesdale, PA.

What is obvious from both of our storybook lives is motivation and interpreting the cues of life to engage in what we love to do. As everyone knows, if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life—so just keep the love going.