random life lessons on my birthday- part 1

It's my birthday week! No- I don't have anything luxurious planned that needs a week, but as a clergy wife and a homeschooling & work outside the home mom, I have to be flexible when any family celebrations are- Christmas included.  

Here are 45 things I have learned in my lifetime- in no order- some are just opinions- and I am not going to tell you how old I was when I learned it (and I am not 45!):

1. Recipe for best summer drink anywhere: 6 sprigs organic lavender, 6 mint leaves, place herbs in just-boiled simple syrup of 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water, let steep until cool. Strain herbs. Add 1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Add 6 cups of water or sparkling water. Serve over ice and some fresh lavender. 

2. If Thorin's dying words -"If more of us valued food and cheer and song over hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world"- were tattooed onto all politicians' and CEOs' foreheads, the world would be a better place. 

3. The last time I taught English to truly advanced non-native speakers, I was 25. So, it has been almost twenty years of teaching simple present/present continuous/simple past. So, I haven't learned much about that...

4. Confession is good for the soul; sacramental confession is even better. Catholic guilt? I don't understand that phrase....

5. 'Judging' and 'condemning' are two entirely different things. If we don't make daily judgments on how our day is to go, we will just be floundering. 

6. Teachers play videos and give tests in class to save themselves the grief of preparing an actual lecture/discussion class.

7. Children remember a lot. I remember the pride I felt when I received a flower for reading in the first grade. I remember the second-hand humiliation when our 3rd grade teacher was jeering at a student for mistakenly saying he was born at the 'state hospital.'

8. I prefer Wings and John Lennon's solo career to The Beatles. Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins don't need Genesis. I still cannot decide if I prefer Sting alone or with The Police. Have Hall and Oates ever sung apart? I hope not to hear it!

9. Going to the ballet in the big city with friends is much better than being asked to prom and it is much much better than just sitting at home during Junior year's prom. 

10. The Byzantine Catholic Divine Liturgy is quite different than the Novus Ordo Roman-rite Mass. No- they don't stop singing and no- there isn't a 'responsorial psalm.' 

11. In some traditional Latin Masses, the laity say and sing almost nothing. 

12. It is too late to get LASIK- but I wish I had.

13. The insect is spelled 'beetles'- not Beatles.

14. Stormtroopers are actually soldiers inside armor, not robots.
15. A squeeze of lemon and some freshly ground pepper can make almost any dinner taste yummy. 
16. Angela Lansbury is Mrs. Potts and Jessica Fletcher (and National Velvet's big sister!). 
17.  It really will not matter that one did not get asked out on dates- except for that one invitation to see Cats because his girlfriend couldn't go and you are the only girl she would trust him to go with. 
18. That man in the gold catsuit with gold eye lashes and wig at the David Bowie concert? He was not hitting on your big sister, but her boyfriend. 
19. Have holy water in the house at all times. Some incense doesn't hurt, either. 
20. It is good to be kind to all, but many times it will not matter and you will get thrown under the bus. Try not to let it happen again.
21. Everyone is experiencing their life from their own perspective. They might not be telling you everything, and perhaps they are manipulating you. Try and be objective and learn from those manipulative people....
22. Stop all extra activities for the kids that they are not enthusiastic about. Yes, just quit tae kwan do already.
23. You will be surprised at how many devout practicing Roman-rite Catholics know nothing about the Eastern rites of the Catholic Church. And you will be a bit hurt when most of them really do not want to know about the Eastern rites. 
24. That Orthodox nun who hissed, "Unity with the Catholic Church? God forbid!"- not an anomaly... 
25. Don't forget- 'be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.'- or perhaps better said: "You have never talked to a mere mortal." (CS Lewis)