Sunday, January 6, 2013

Maybe I've Learned a Few Things

It is 2013, I'll be 25 as of this year- that is a fourth of a century. AND according to one of my oldest friends, all that time of hard lessons is starting to pay off. Now after two days filled in a car with great conversation, I can agree on some levels. Key word SOME, I still have a long ways to go. 
See this weekend I drove down for the first birthday of an old friends son, and spent the quick road trip discussing everything with another old friend. While visiting I took the time to have a great  best friend hang day with an old friend (honestly no better way to spend the last day of Christmas vacation). The entire weekend had a trend, Old Friends. As in people who have known me long enough to make sound judgements in the development of my life. Despite the fact that I ran around today looking like a soccer mom let out of the house on a girls day, anyone who knows me personally can tell you that I'm far from that level of responsibility for some time; however, after further review there are a few things I can agree with completely. 
1.) My money is no longer funny. The only true goal I had for 2012 was to have something in the savings account at the beginning of 2013. I can proudly say, I accomplished this goal. Bank of America has a rule, if you overdraft less than $20.00 they will not charge you. Fact. I put this rule to the test numerous time throughout college, at one point I overdrafted $19.96. Just ridiculous. 
2.) When the clock strikes 12, I turn into a pumpkin. As one Old Friend pointed out, there was once a night out that we returned home around 1:00a and I promptly changed outfits and left to join a different group of friends out on the town. I was not seen again for two days. Just joking, I did pop in to change shoes once.This was not a rare occurrence for me at all. Now, I'm the one after 10p checking my watch constantly with a yawn and announcing the first goodbye in a group of people. I have responsibilities now (student loans) and they require that I function at a high level. I need my rest for that. 
Exactly how I'm looking at all "Frog Princes" from now on!
3.) No more kissing frogs, ever again. Ever! I'm an extremely private person when it comes to my relationships (the irony of my writing that statement on my blog), but if there is one thing that anyone who knew me in college could say with complete faith is that I always dated jerks, turds and the guys that make fathers refuse to answer the door. Truth be told, I had no intentions of ever developing a serious relationship with any of those fellows and there are no hurt feelings on my part, but my nerves deserved better. I wasn't allowed to date until I was 16 and the fact that my father coached all the guys I was interested in aided in the enforcement of this rule. Then my first dating experience junior year was not impressive and  when I left for college I was nursing a pretty scorched heart from playing with fire (they tell you not to fall for a friend, but what do they know), so I started college with the goal to just learn how to date and have fun. I grew up with boys, but treating you like a little sister and dating you are two very different things (the two combined are actually against the law) and I learned that pretty quickly. I learned a whole heep of things. The biggest thing I learned (outside of the fact that liquid courage rarely ends well) is that I need maturity. I need someone who is setting goals and reaching them, who knows who they are, who can laugh at themselves and who can have a quarrel without turning it into a competition ( <--- here's looking at you " Mr. I believe where the problem occurs is where the problem should be discussed"). Like I prefer my cheese to be, I need my husband to be . . . aged.
I sing this song to my students ALL the time. They are not amused.
4.) Know what keeps me going in life. My faith, my family, my friends and my work. I pray more times in a day than I ever knew you could pray. And every day, I'm thankful for the answers and guidance of my prayers. I don't take off if I'm sick (actually I head straight to school and share), but for my family I'd take a day with no pay- they are my backbone and for that I am thankful. I've stopped thinking I need to be friends with everyone and started focusing on the relationships that matter most. This means I've reconnected with some old friends and distanced myself from others, but the joy and peace I have in the relationships I have now are what keeps me going sometimes. Learning, laughing, teaching and growing with my students is Life- enough said.
5.) Giving my reflection time. I'm a planner, I'm a take charge doer and I'm constantly itching to move more. At least three times a day I come up with an idea to do this or that and not to brag, but they are usually pretty great. Or I meet someone with a great adventure to share. Or I'm given the opportunity to go on my own great adventure. The thing is I've had to learn to be patient, to pray and to be patient. I always feel like I'm going to bubble over with urgency, there are epic stories explaining just how much patience I lack and sometimes when I meditate it takes me forever to just clear my mind and focus. It has taken me a long time to learn to balance the thin line between sitting back and waiting and preparing towards the goal, but time has shown me that the difference between the two changes everything. Honestly, "be patient" is a mantra I remind myself of daily. 
For much of my youth I was convinced that if only I had a raccoon as a pet I would  be just like Pocahontas.
So, five solid lessons from 25 years. Pretty good, I'm already looking forward to 30 years worth of lessons. No worries though, I'll be patient and enjoy the moments. 

1 comment:

  1. What a great thing to keep track of all we learn. We're so smart aren't we? ;)

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