45 Lessons life taught me.

These are good life lessons, ones that we have decided to emulate. Lyn & Ray

Written by Regina Brett of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 70 in August, so here goes:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to 'others.' You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful, or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood, but the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take "no" for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative of dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Love

We have quails that wander around the parking lot by my office. These are beautiful little birds that scurry along in pairs from the strip of weeds by the freeway wall, across our lot and under the chain link fence to the storage property next to us. Later in the season we slowly drive down the driveway as the parents hurry their offspring across the driveway to the wild strip of land next to us. That wild strip of land is about ten feet wide and about a quarter mile long, it runs between our building and the I-15 freeway. It is home to ferro cats, foxes, skunks, an occasional deer and of course our quails.

One morning when I arrived I noticed one of the quails had been hit by a co-worker’s car. I could see that it was no longer alive as I entered the front door and I resolved to have one of the guys pick it up and put it in the dumpster on the other side of the building. The guys didn’t do it the first day and it was still there the next day but hidden by a wheel of a car. The mate of the quail spent the day wandering the parking lot. She would wander over by the fence to the wild strip, then wander back to the area by the storage property, never coming close to the building as they never had before. She wandered the whole day searching for him only leaving the lot when people exited the building for their cars.

The next morning I didn’t see her when I arrived, but around 10 AM I heard a peeping noise about every 30 seconds. It took me a while to identify the noise, when I finally looked out the window I saw the quail balanced on the top strand of the barbed wire surrounding the storage property, she was calling to her mate then waiting for him to respond. She continued to call the entire day, continuing even as the employees left the office for their cars, each person stopping to notice and grieve for the forlorn bird calling to her mate. The next day I arrived with trepidation, fearing to experience the loss of the small bird further, but she wasn’t there and has not returned since. I marveled at the grief of this small bird and realized love and grief are not solely human emotions.

Hi Gang

Okay, I started a blogspot for Ray and I, What we will do with it remains to be seen.