Lesson Learned

My birthday is this week. I'm feeling way better about it than I have the last two birthdays. This is true mostly because I feel way better about myself than I have -- well, for years, I guess. (Don't ever move to a new town, flood, get sued, watch a family member die, then glue your marriage back together in a few successive years -- it's murder on your body and your psyche). Chris Campbell recently wrote that he was slightly jealous of the ACU freshman moving in. Not me, man. I am so much more comfortable in my own skin (albeit quite a bit looser and wobbly skin) than I was then.

There's lots I've learned in the last . . . lots of years since entering college.

• I really don't have to prove myself to anyone. My kids haven't quite bought into this, but I have and that's all that matters!
• Procrastined tasks don't get any more pleasant with time.
• Blue jeans do not fit actual humans. Okay, they may fit men -- because I haven't had this conversation with any men -- but of my friends that range in size from size 2 to size 22 I haven't found any of them that can purchase a pair of jeans off the rack that fits. If you see anyone wearing jeans that look like they were made for that person -- they probably were.
• A person's willingness to perform any volunteer activity is generally directly disproportionate to that person's ability to perform said volunteer activity.
• People are most defensive when they feel their pride/ego/dignity is on the line. Give them the opportunity to hang on to that, and they'll pretty much work with you.
• It actually IS possible to have too many refrigerator magnets.
• We try to teach our children not to think the world revolves around them -- but we never really learn that lesson, either.
• If you're at the back of the store and realize you should have gotten a cart, DO NOT grab one that is empty just hanging around. It was abandoned for a reason. It is posessed by demons. Make the trip to the front of the store to get a "fresh" one (that is only mildly posessed by demons).
• THINK VERY CAREFULLY before actually writing anything down. I learned this one this week.

I'm sure there is much more that I have learned but my new job seems to keep my brain cells from working on a regular basis -- much like the fancy-schmancy computer system they have there! I do think that "older" frequently goes with "wiser" for a reason. For the moment, I'm perfectly happy being both!