Please excuse me if I'm a little quiet today. Mark is leaving, and I'm kind of sad. You probably don't know Mark, but you might know someone like him. He has been the heart and soul of the office for years. He has never been interested in getting praise for the wonderful work he does. He just does his job - very well.     We're pleased that he is moving on to new, better things. But this doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye.     Life has a way of throwing curve balls   at us. Just when we start to get comfortable with a person, a place or a situation, something comes along to change things. A nice neighbor moves away. Someone in the family graduates. A child finds new love through marriage.     Our ability to deal with change and disruption   decides to a great degree, our peace, happiness and satisfaction in life.     But how do we do that? Chris the California surfer, once told me that the answer to life's problems can be summed up in four words: "Go with the flow."     "It's like surfing," Chris explained. "You can't organize the ocean. Waves just happen. You ride them where they take you, then you paddle back out there and catch the next one. You're always hoping for the perfect wave where you can get it. But mostly you just take them the way they come."     I think Chris was saying that life is a series of events -- both good and bad. There will always be things over which you have no control. The truly successful person expects the unexpected and is prepared to make adjustments .     Don't stop trying to make all your dreams come true. But when things come up that aren't exactly in your plan, work around them -- and then move on.     We're going to miss Mark. But rather than dwell on the sadness of our parting , we'll focus on our hopes for a brighter future -- for him, and for us. We'll go out and do everything that we can to make that future happen. Why does the author quote  Chris' words?
Because Chris' words show the author's point. Because Chris is popular and surfing is exciting. Because Chris has experienced a lot in life. Because Chris' words made people think.