My mother is the queen of email forwards. She would likely kill me if she knew I wrote this about her, but she doesn’t read my blog… mostly because she doesn’t know what a blog is. I love her to death;
but her serious lack of interest in technology is astounding to me. My father and I are very tech savvy. Me, obviously because of growing up with it all and my father because of his job, my mother has no interest in a computer other than to forward emails and play solitaire. She drives me nuts because she has a Blackberry and won’t even use the camera on it. To me it seems a waste to have such an extraordinary piece of technology and never use it to its full potential.
That being said she did send me a forward the other day that I read through and it struck me as something worth sharing with my readers. I know it isn’t food related in the slightest,
but food is life and part of enjoying life… so I figure a few entries that are not food related can be okay. (That and I have been working on finals for my classes and haven’t cooked anything but leftovers and microwaved Weight Watcher meals in over a week. Nothing to share there…)
Before I posted this tidbit of an email I chose to look up the supposed author of this and found out a few things. First and most notably is that the author is not 90 years old as the email suggests she is in fact 54 and a breast cancer survivor. She wrote a column giving 45 lessons on life when she turned 45 and had beaten the cancer. The author is a Pulitzer Prize finalist for 2009 and 2008, which is pretty amazing for any writer. Her name is Regina Brett and has written a couple books. Please feel free to “Google” her as I did. (I will include a link to her page at the bottom)
Enough back story now to the warm fuzzy, feel good blog post…
45 Lessons Life Taught Me
By Regina Brett
1.) Life isn’t fair, but I 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.) Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
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 that crying alone.
8.) It’s okay 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 okay 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, and 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 but 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 it time.
31.) However good or bad a situation is it will change.
32.) Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
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; dying young only looks cool in the movies.
37.) Your children only get one childhood.
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 problems, 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 bad you feel, get up, get dressed, and show up.
44.) Yield.
45.) Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift. 
I have left all the bits at the end that turn these beautiful suggestions into a (sigh) chain letter. Some of these really hit home for me in my real life. Which ones do you find mean something to you?
No comments:
Post a Comment