The Next Ten of the Last Twenty

Of the 100 Things I Learned the Hard Way

81. Even though the days when the babies are a) teething,  b) up all night with cholic, or c) endlessly squabbling with their siblings... seem like they will never end, oh-my-goodness, those children are gonna grow up much faster than you think they will.  First they're teething, then they're toddling, then all of a sudden they're climbing trees.  One minute they're throwing army guys out their bedroom window, the next minute they're getting married and joining the Marines. 

82.  It doesn't matter what you do to it, after two weeks in the refrigerator, nobody is going to eat that fish soup.  It is undisguisable.

83.  It's a bad idea to keep glue sticks and chapstick in the same drawer. (Or, hmm...  Maybe it's a good idea...)

84.  The modern day Merriam Webster Abridged dictionary is good for dictionary races or explaining cutting edge jargon, but it can never measure up to the 2,820 page, two-volume, 1931 edition of the New Century Dictionary I've been toting around with me since my college days.  If you play Scrabble, read 19th century novels, or need to boost a toddler higher in his chair, it is indespensible.

85.  It can be equally as damaging to praise a child undeservedly as to criticize him or her needlessly.

86.  Just because Mommy would never eat a tortilla fried with peach preserves in it, doesn't mean someone else wouldn't.  The kids don't like my vanilla yogurt with flax seed and walnuts, either, so I guess we're even.  And if they won't praise me, I won't criticize them.

87.  Until you need one, you will know exactly where to find several packages of:  AA batteries, birthday candles, or pinnochle cards.

88.  One of the most important gifts parents can give their children is to teach them by example what a loving marriage looks like -- in good times, in bad times, and in the ordinary ole day-to-day.  Like when a wife has to bite her tongue when her dear husband dresses a little funny...

89.  Because, seriously.  Even big, black clunky, dorky-looking sunglasses can look dashing if they're on the face of the man you love.  And if he buys you beer.  Beer goggles I call them.  Dashing.  (They really are, Dan!)

This shot taken at the famous Breckenridge Brewery, home of  Avanlanche Ale and Vanilla Porter.

90.  And, finally # 90, ten from the end.  I'm sitting here typing at 11:30 p.m. because there was so much on my agenda today.  It's amazing, though, how you can slip in one more chore (or fun thing) if you're on the ball.  It's the full-restaurant vs. the empty-restaurant rule:  The busier things are, the more you hustle to get everything done; the more slack things are, the more a slacker you are -- just like the waitresses with only one couple to serve.   It's good to be busy.  But it's even better when I'm working hard to be spiritually grounded, too.  Everything runs more smoothly -- or feels like it does -- when I've spent some good time in prayer, when I'm fitting in spiritual reading, when I've taken time with the children on their Catechism lessons and the lives of the Saints.   It's practically miraculous. 

There are always enough hours in the day if you have enough Deo in the hours.