What I Wish I Had Known Then

I was a pretty happy kid. My mom and dad were loving but strict. I lived in a household of fun, laughter, lots of outside play and we traveled. We weren't poor, but I know now how much my parents struggled to spread the dollars so we kids didn't know we didn't have very much.

I wish I had known that, even though you have to make good grades, you don't really have to stress out to make those straight As. I wish I had known that those kids that were so snobby because they had more money and would follow me from grade school to high school, absolutely had no effect on my adult life. It would have been so easy to go through school not giving a rip what people thought about me.

I wish I had known that, if all I had to do was make my grades (which I did) in the 5th grade and not worry about that horrible, grouchy, mean teacher I had, as soon as 5th grade was over I would only remember her name and 5th grade wouldn't even be a memory.

I wish I hadn't been so shy because I'm not now. I was never afraid, actually quite the opposite so my personality was already brewing. But what makes a girl so shy, especially when my mom and dad were always telling me how special I was?

I wish I hadn't worried so much about not being asked for dates in high school. I'll bless God for that because I might not have waited until I met Donald and then all the dynamics would have changed.

Try not to hate getting up on Sunday morning so much and having to get dressed to go to Sunday School and church. My mom was pretty insistent on that and I thank her for it. It was the basis for my morals and my impenetrable faith in God.

I wish I had taken college a little more seriously, because I would be a retired volleyball coach by now.

I wish I had known that what was in my future were a wonderful husband, 2 terrific kids, and 7 excellent grandchildren.

Now that I'm 64, I wish I had known that God was going to grant me mostly serenity, with just enough controversy to make it interesting but harmless. So, I'm going to look forward to the rest of my life and not worry about it because I know God is still the engineer and I am his ongoing drawing and design.