Age 5
I learned that our dog doesn't want to eat my broccoli either.
Age 7
I learned that when I wave to people in the country, they stop what they are doing and wave back.
Age 9
I learned that just when I get my room the way I like it, Mom makes me clean it up again.
Age 12
I learned that if you want to cheer yourself up, you should try cheering someone else up.
Age 14
I learned that although it's hard to admit it, I'm secretly glad my parents are strict with me.
Age 15
I learned that silent company is often more healing than words of advice.
Age 24
I learned that brushing my child's hair is one of life's great pleasures.
Age 26
I learned that wherever I go, the world's worst drivers have followed me there.
Age 29
I learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it.
Age 30
I learned that there are people who love you dearly but just don't know how to show it.
Age 42
I learned that you can make some one's day by simply sending them a little note.
Age 44
I learned that the greater a person's sense of guilt, the greater his or her need to cast blame on others.
Age 46
I learned that children and grandparents are natural allies.
Age 47
I learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
Age 48
I learned that singing "Amazing Grace" can lift my spirits for hours.
Age 49
I learned that motel mattresses are better on the side away from the phone.
Age 50
I learned that you can tell a lot about a man by the way he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
Age 51
I learned that keeping a vegetable garden is worth a medicine cabinet full of pills.
Age 52
I learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you miss them terribly after they die.
Age 53
I learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life.
Age 58
I learned that if you want to do something positive for your children, work to improve your marriage.
Age 61
I learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
Age 62
I learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catchers mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.
Age 64
I learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, the needs of others, your work, meeting new people, and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.
Age 65
I learned that whenever I decide something with kindness, I usually make the right decision.
Age 66
I learned that everyone can use a prayer.
Age 72
I learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.
Age 82
I learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch-holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
Age 90
I learned that I still have a lot to learn.
Age 92
I learned that you might want to pass this on to someone you care about. Sometimes they just need a little something to make them smile.
I feel so blessed to have the friendships I have both off and on line. People who know me and love me in spite of all my blunders are a bottomless resource for such positive things. To really touch and be touched soul deep is a privilege that I never get tired of exercising. Resting in a heart felt embrace does not require a friends presence in the same place to be experienced. It travels through phone lines, cable lines, words on paper, or screen: love knows no boundaries.
It recognizes no limits of distance or time spent apart. Faces that have never faced each other can wear matching smiles if souls touch in friendship. Voices never heard can speak as loudly as ones nearby if love directs your hearing. Comfort and concern has an energy and power that transcends time and space when it is real.
Some sweet day I may meet some of the people I have met online, ones I love unconditionally and who love me back in the same way. I will not love them any more than I do now if we meet face to smiling face. If I love you it is with all my heart or nothing. And I do not give it lightly or take it back easily. Each friend is loved in a different, unique way, suited to their needs as well as my own. Some are like sisters, or brothers, or children, or parents, but they all inhabit a special family section of my heart. I have gathered them like a bouquet of wildflowers along the road as I traveled, and their vibrancy and fragrance fill my senses with wonder.
THINK ABOUT IT
LET IT GROW
THEN DECIDE
CLICK ON TITLE FOR FLASH MOVIE
(A FRIEND SHOULD BE RADICAL)
