Knowledge to begin 2010

I sit here tonight, folding laundry in a quite house (My parents just left for a spontaneous trip to mexico - Jarod is taking our kids to his parents - and the men who live at my parents are already in bed with the stomach flu) and my mind is beginning to process – a little.
You live and you learn – but I never seem to learn fast enough. In the last weeks 'home' I have been reminded of past lessons that should be deeply engrained in my soul – things that, though I hope may change – should be planned on as I enter the new year:

My parent's dryer eats socks at a phenomenal rate, and they never shall return.
Water passes under the bridges of life – even when you are far from them – and there is never going back.
Regulating heat with a wood stove in freezing weather is always a game of roulette
It hurts to miss people. It hurts to have missed out on the lives of people that you are with.
Children will pass the stomach flu to at least 2 other people with each puke
The members of my family will drink water out of any other person's glass, even if they are puking
Stomach flu and hidden breading parasites make for a lovely combo.
Small crowds are usually better – but they seldom have cheesecake
If children have grandparents, their parents don't need to buy them ANYTHING. EVER. Except, maybe a vegetable.
Kids adapt better. I am no longer a kid.
Tradition is comfortable, oh so comfortable, when nothing else makes sense.
If I have information I don't want my mom to know – don't tell Kristi Luetters.
If I have information I don't want my mom to know – don't tell anyone in a small town because inevitably a 85 year old woman will hear and it is all down hill from there.
Don't make life plans.
Make life plans with pencil.
Erase life plans, and bring plenty of cardboard boxes to assist in the organization of living out of a suitcase, while someone, somewhere, sketches out new life plans.



Speaking of change - check out this photo comparison of a little over a year