Life Lessons of a Forty-Niner

Magazine Cover, Unknown

Today I start my 60th year. I'm a 1949-er, born in the first half of the last century...how old does that sound?? Having just spent some time with a newborn baby, I realize I've acquired awesome skills, knowledge and wisdom over these many years. I wouldn't want to start over!

Think about what you've learned in life while I count the blessings of being 59.

I can:

1. Feel a sense of peace
   
2. Identify hundreds of individual voices
3. Crawl (that takes coordination!), roll, balance and walk
   
4. Distinguish colors and hues (think of all the shades of green in the woods)
   
5. Follow a sound to it's source
6. Identify emotions in other people
7. Differentiate numbers, letters, symbols
8. Know when something is upside down
9. Perceive danger
10. Appreciate lovely scents
11. Feel the mood of the crowd
    
12. Anticipate cold
    
13. Steel myself for pain
14. Wait for food
    
15. Smell fire
16. Read
17. Entertain myself with my thoughts
18. Plan ahead to accomplish tasks
    
19. Organize my surroundings
    
20. Drive to a new address
    
21. Feed myself without getting it in my hair
    
22. Clean up a kitchen quickly
    
23. Follow directions
    
24. Wait without having a tantrum
25. Sense a need for quiet
26. Make unpleasant phone calls
27. Talk to strangers
28. Create a pleasant atmosphere
29. Face a crisis
30. Eat something that looks yukky
31. Smile when I've been insulted
32. Hold my head up when I'm embarrassed
33. Tackle a job I don't know how to do
34. Look calm when my knees are shaking
35. Pretend I'm having a good time
36. Say no to someone asking for a favor
37. Turn on the computer
38. Understand why old people rant about changes in the world
    
39. Remember why young people think they invented the world
40. Recall the poetic lyrics to classic songs
41. Watch black and white movies without whining
    
42. Wait out a bad mood
43. Accept a compliment
44. Expect respect
45. Laugh at irreverence
46. Put financial problems in perspective
47. Love others with no expectations
48. Let my kids make decisions
    
49. Follow a football game
50. Value another opinion
51. Discern when a person is genuine
52. Choose which traditions I'll follow
53. Trust my intuition
54. Appreciate old friends, even if I never see them
    
55. Pray with total faith that I'm heard
56. Accept that I'm not always right
57. Not try to top everyone's story
58. Tell the difference between Coke, Diet Coke and Pepsi
59. Cry for joy
    

Knowing how to do something is an accomplishment. Doing it at the right time is a different thing. For that I'll need a few more birthdays!

Make a list of the things you've learned in life. Then cheer yourself on.

Go Forty-niners!!