Dexter Iowa Community Site

Consider this quote from Abe Lincoln

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

In just a few days I turn 40. I remember turning 30 and the rut I was in for about six months about suddenly finding myself the age that back in high school my friend Sherry and I always used as the benchmark for our lives. The old joke between us was that if neither of us was married by 30 we’d go to the nearest courthouse and get hitched. Luckily for both of us that never happened, but as I near the next benchmark in my life I decided to look back over the past four decades and bring you a little of what I have learned in the last 40 years.

1. There is nothing better than a good nap. The younger you are you fight taking them, and the older you are you fight not having enough of them.
2. As my friend Don would say…it’s better to be over the hill than under it.
3. You never really forget your first love, or the last one. The ones in between just get fuzzy with time.
4. If you don’t make time for those things which are truly important, that you’ll wake up one day and realize you can never get that time back again.
5. When you are sick, nothing makes you feel better faster than chicken soup.
6. Work is never more important than your kids or the people you care most about.
7. You’ll have days where you are the king of the world…and days when you feel the worst you ever have…but most of your life you’ll live somewhere in the middle.
8. The most important thing you can ever lean is how to forgive.
9. Even if you are a knucklehead sometimes, your Mom will still be your Mom.
10. Be able to make fun of yourself from time to time. You’re never to important to be so serious.
11. Understand that your heart will get broken, and you may never really understand why.
12. Don’t ever wait to tell someone you love them, and don’t be afraid of them not loving you back.
13. Sometimes you’re the windshield…sometimes you’re the bug.
14. Share, listen, and be kind to others.
15. All bleeding stops eventually…one way or another.
16. Sometimes you just need a good cry.
17. Don’t overdo the delicious things in life…unless they are coconut crème pie.
18. Dance like no one is watching. And if they are…dance anyway.
19. Find comfort in the person you are, the body you have and the life you lead.
20. Know where you came from, but don’t get stuck there. If it looks like a mud hole…don’t drive into it.
21. If you don’t understand something…ask questions…if you still don’t understand…then maybe you aren’t asking the right questions.
22. Life is indeed like a box of chocolates. Usually it’s been picked through by everyone else, unless you’re quick to the punch.
23. Learn to say I’m sorry…and mean it.
24. Never be too old, or to busy, or to involved in your own life that you don’t have time to sit on the floor and play with a child.
25. Remember the places you visit and the things you have seen. You never know when you’ll want to return there in your mind.
26. Take a chance now and then and order from the part of the menu that lists things other than cheeseburgers.
27. It’s just a television show. And most of the time they are nothing like real life.
28. Know when to walk away…and know when to run.
29. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. But never be disappointed if it never comes.
30. Be the kind of friend you would want to be friends with.
31. You’ll never really understand your parents until you have kids, and even then you might not.
32. When you have kids it’s always important to remember they are watching what you do, and learning from it. Oh, and they’ll repeat that behavior, usually in the middle of church.
33. Watch, listen and make notes…eventually the things that confuse you the most will reveal themselves over time.
34. Relationships can be hard work, but when they go well the work doesn’t really seem that hard.
35. You can never do anything that can’t be worked through, and that won’t be forgiven by the people who love you.
36. Don’t ever pass by someone in need with the same amount of money in your pocket that you had before you saw them…or the same amount of time on your hands.
37. Remember to always look both ways before crossing the street, and to look down and up if you are walking through the livestock barn at the Fair.
38. There will come a time in your life where you are eating pork and beans and saltine crackers for more than one meal a week. Remember those times and what you did to keep that from ever happening.
39. Everything dies, that’s just the way life is.
40. Finally, Keep moving forward.

See you next week. Remember, we’re all in this together.