1) If you have a chance to travel, or have an adventure – Go. Even if they repo your car while you’re away because you took a trip instead of paying the bill.
2) Mom was right, 70’s fashions DID come back in style.
3) All kinds of love matter in a life, not just the romantic kind. Treasure your friends.
4) Don’t drink .25 cent beers and play cards in the student center all instead of going to your college classes even though it’s REALLY fun.
5) Never look at someone and think “They have potential.” – They are who they are and they may never grow into your idealized version of them. Ask yourself if you can live with the “as is” version.
6) If you’re dating a guy who likes the theatre and never hits on you, he’s not a gentleman, he’s gay. Even if he makes out with you sometimes when he’s drunk.
7) If you meet someone who says they don’t care for Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan, they’re probably illiterate. Even if you hate their voices, they are POETS.
8) Find your Betsy. (i.e. Best friend, partner in crime, person who is always on your side even when you’re clearly in the wrong.)
9) Keep people’s secrets, even when they’re very juicy. Loyalty matters.
10) Heed the advice my late great friend Father Jim gave me “Jesus died to take away your sins, not your mind.” Read. Research. Ask questions. Do not believe anything blindly.
11) And to that end, God is not affiliated with any political party.
12) Enjoy your guilty pleasure and be unashamed for reveling in it –because someday someone might pay you to watch soaps and write about them!
13) Pay attention in high school or you might get so caught up in your teen angst that you miss the person who could have been your best friend your whole life. No really, I mean it.
14) If you really like something, chances are someday they will determine it cause heart disease or cancer. So eat or drink a lot of it before science catches up and warns you.
15) My friend Andie Casey told me when I was 19 that “Life is about having good stories to tell when you’re old.” She was right.
16) So, this one time, Andie and I were doing a play in a barn and a cow walked onto our stage…
17) And one night in Vegas, Betsy and I had a cocktail with Captain Jack Sparrow and met Elvis on the same day.
18) And back in 1980 I had pizza and beer with President Carter the night before I was interviewed on 60 Minutes about being college student’s political impact on the upcoming election.
19) And that was after Ted Kennedy kissed my hand at the Farmer’s Market in Cleveland, Ohio. I have a witness, Mark Eckenrode was with me.
20) Oh, and did I forget to mention I once had breakfast with George “Goober” Lindsey and he drove me home in his limo?
21) I once drove my car into a brick wall to avoid hitting a cat. Not the best idea I ever had.
22) I moved to San Diego basically on a whim after hearing Counting Crows “Long December” on the radio and realizing it really HAD been a long time since I’d seen the ocean.
23) So, Yes, I have made life choices based on pop song lyrics.
24) One summer in the Theatre group I toured with, (yay CP) we were so broke we ate solely things we won from the McDonald’s peel off game cards except when my mom sent a care package with instant oatmeal and we made it with hot tap water in coffee mugs and ate it with our toothbrush handles. (Right Michael, Peta and Diane???)
25) Nothing and no one can ever convince me God doesn’t exist because I have a relationship with Him. I have not imagined all the times He has clearly intervened in my life. I’m a little kooky, but not full on insane.
26) I know there are people who hate their exes after they break up, but I still love everyone I’ve ever loved. My heart doesn’t come with an “Off” switch. In fact, many of my old flames are my FB pals and we still get on quite well, right guys? (Say no and I release your old love letters to TMZ.)
27) Read lots of books. Take notes in them and highlight things. Let them soak into your soul. And if you don’t know where to start, a little Walt Whitman “Leaves of Grass” should handily blow your mind.
28) Last year I dressed up like an old hippie for Halloween because I am an old hippie.
29) The reason I love OB so much is because it’s clearly still 1972 on Newport Avenue.
30) Betsy will go along with any cockamamie idea I come up with – and I love her for that. Like that time we flew to Chicago and crashed a random office Christmas party at our hotel.
31) Some people have heroes that are sports or movie stars – my heroes are my Mama, my late Daddy, my Grandpa and Grandma Wallace, my cousins Mary Alice and Jon, my aunts and uncles, my in-laws and… well – you get the idea. I come from good people. I don’t suppose I knew how rare my family was until I met people who hated their families.
32) I never gave birth, but I have 2 lovely daughters, 2 son-in-laws and 9 adorable grandkids. So, if you’re afraid of being a step-mom, it’s better than you think. If of course, you end up with step daughters as wonderful as Katrina and Sarah.
33) If you’re really hot and you want to swim but there are dead fish floating in the water, you CAN get in and swim while batting the dead fish away with a stick but it’s probably not a good idea.
34) At the time, having your mug in the top ten on the Beer Wall of Fame at college may seem like quite an accomplishment, but turns out it doesn’t really add much to a resume in the future.
35) “Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided – great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me.”
36) Yes, I still dig the old hymns.
37) If you meet someone who doesn’t like dogs, you should be instantly suspicious of their character.
38) If the chance arises, go to Paris.
39) If you go to the Bahamas, buy rum.
40) If you go to Canada when you’re 16 and spend all your babysitting money on a pair of giant deerskin fleece lined mittens, they will last you your entire life. But if you move to San Diego, they are mostly rendered useless.
41) Do a lot of kissing when you’re young.
42) Moisturize your neck. It doesn’t seem like it should need moisturized, but trust me, it does. Have you seen Steven Tyler’s neck? Just sayin.
43) Sing songs until you know them.. After you forget everything you learned in school, you will still know all the words to Billy Don’t Be A Hero, and other embarrassing songs. This will come in handy at parties. Or when you Karaoke with Fig.
44) Embrace your inner nerd.
45) When you’re doing embarrassing and reckless things in your youth, you will have one friend like Calvin who will remember them and take great joy in posting them on your Facebook wall later in life to shatter anyone’s illusion that you might be a saint. (Thanks for keeping me grounded dude.)
46) When you’re bored in a small town, get a can of paint and drive around with a funnel painting lines on the middle of dirt roads. (This one’s for you Dave Mateau.)
47) Have one friend who can read your mind from across the room. (Cheeky-Nay-Nay)
48) I loved Elton John when I was 12. I love Elton John now.
49) I passed notes and mocked the teacher when I was in 7th grade. I passed notes and mocked the teacher in a class I took this week.
50) Which brings me back to #5 – I am who I’ve always been, even 50 years in. Sorry to anyone who once thought I “had potential.”
- Tamilu © March 22, 2011
Follow me on Twitter @tamilu40
