And I digress …

Emily handed me some crumpled up paper. I opened it and there was one of her toys. She said, "Happy birthday. This toy is broken so I'm giving it to you."

Today’s my birthday so I’m going to stray a bit from the topic of etiquette.  Why the self-indulgence?  Because birthdays that end in a five or zero feel significant (today is 35 for those who are wondering).  The past decade has been huge.  I have: married, had three children, been an Air Force officer, been a stay-at-home mom, been a college counselor, been an etiquette consultant, lived in Louisiana, lived in northern Missouri, lived in Alaska, lived in southern Missouri, and bought a mini-van.  It’s been a lifetime of moves, homes, family-creating, and careers all crammed into ten years.  You can’t have such a monumental decade without learning a few things.

Things I’ve learned in the past decade:

Sleep is precious.

I will never like fish or peas, not even when I get older.

Sometimes the only thing to say is “I’m sorry.”

I miss camouflage and combat boots.

Marriage isn’t romantic.

Parenting magazines stress me out. 

There’s power in small acts of kindness.

No matter how much I get rid of before a move there will always be a box (or ten) filled with stuff that wasn’t worth moving across the country.

Real friends are the people I can call after years of not talking and feel like we picked up mid-conversation.

There but for the grace of God, go I.  

I am not good at potty training.

I am, however, good at house training dogs.  Go figure.

I will never understand how the Internet works.

My kids hear everything.

Some short-cuts are worth taking.

Everybody is NOT looking at me.

There is never enough time.

There is no mandatory pt in the civilian world so I’m solely responsible for finding time to exercise. 

 “Life is too short” is not an excuse to live recklessly; it’s the reason to live thoughtfully.

Parenting is not easy.

Never let kids see their schoolwork or art in the trash.

I should never leave a room without putting away at least one thing.  If there’s nothing to put away, I need to look around carefully because I’ve possibly walked into the wrong house.

This too shall pass is true, no matter what “this” is.

I could keep adding to this list all day but dinner, Cub Scouts, and cake are on the agenda so blog time is over!  When I blow out my candles tonight I’m wishing that the next decade will be a slow one because I’m not ready for teenagers.