Posted on 12/07/2013 4:07:46 PM PST by SoFloFreeper
These are all good and will share with my kids. Since they have been little they know my four rules of life:
1) Life isn’t fair.
2) Nothing is easy.
3) It’s always something.
4) God is Sovereign
Obviously weighted to when times are crappy. Hence need to show them this other list.
And perhaps another: “No, even though you only had a “few” beers and think you can drive safely - you CAN’T”.
(Although I was surely blessed years ago a few times. God watches over little babies and drunks!)
It wouldn’t have done any good. At 18 I would never have listened to myself. ;O)
I bet you have the makings of a very successful movie script. I'm not joking...
I would tell my 18 yr old self to stay home and watch paint dry rather than going out to the club that night and meeting Kim.....The bitch that stole my youth.
LOL!
10. There's a guy named George Soros. Make sure to invest in his company when he is just starting out. Cash out after a profit, and then find a way to destroy him.
Count me in on that one too.
I love music. I just can’t play an instrument.
There seems to be a lot of sour grapes concerning women. I’ve loved every single woman I’ve ever been with for more than a month. Really. And I’ve had my heart broken by every single one. Doesn’t mean I’d change anything, just an observation.
I’m thinking castration would probably be the only thing I would do differently when I was 18. I mean getting one...but, as Pat Dye say’s “hindsight is 50/50”.
I’ve probably drank and smoked up 10 years worth of money in the past, oh, 35 years since I took up those two habits. One of these days I’m gonna quit smoking tho..As my good friend say’s. “I spent most of my money on women and whiskey. The rest, I just wasted...”
#3 is interchangeable. Never stop playing ball/instrument.
If I can’t do #4, I’ll double up on #3. Floor Hockey & Ultimate Frisbee with kids half my age.
The ten things I would tell myself at 18 are ten things I would ignore at 18.
***
Spot on! Probably true of every single one of us here.
If I could talk to myself at 18, I would tell myself the following:
1) When you hit age 35 in 1985, you will have only $5,000 in savings. Invest it all in Microsoft stock.
2) When you are 23, do NOT let Joan G. walk out of your life forever.
3) When you are 36 years old, you will be a founding partner and SVP of a start-up business finance company. Do NOT take on Rosalie A. as a client.
If I could speak to 18 year old me, I’d say:
1. Go ahead and go to Vietnam but don’t expect your country to love you for it or to sign up en masse to go with you.
2. Don’t be in any hurry to get married. The right lady is out there but you’re going to have to be patient.
3. Buy Lugers. Lots of them. Hold on to them.
Ahhh, Miracle on Ice, Reagan and Thatcher, and girls with big hair and leg
warmers. Sigh....took it for granted. Here is what I would say, always stay debt free, buy that house in Ocean City NJ in 96 for cash, don’t go to college and law school and use those seven years to build up a base. Oh, and make sure I show up on that blind date in 97 to make sure I make my beautiful wife fall in love with me all over again.
Or as my Father told me when I was a whining 13 year old who had to work at my Dad’s Business to get an allowance, “nobody owes you a living so shut up and get back to work”.
Ward Cleaver he wasn’t, but those words served me well.
The thing my parents, which all parents probably should do, is be a team. My Mother just may have been the best person I have ever known. Kind, gentle,loving, tender, and brave as they come. Daddy was tough and I thought too tough at times but I think he was making up for Mother being so kind.
For instance I got to noticing if Mother was gone Daddy was easier on us than normal. Whatever either did the other would back them up. They had us in church just about every time it was open. They also had the preacher over for Sunday dinner around once a month.
Our preacher in a small country Southern Baptist Church had a PHD from Yale Divinity School. He was retired as President of a Seminary and just preached in retirement. He knew how to stay on Mother’s good side as he constantly bragged on her children and how well behaved we were, which was true btw. He also bragged on Mother’s cooking, again rightly so.
Easy: catching boys’ interest is NOT A GREAT TALENT. Focus on something a little more challenging and worthwhile!
My Parents had their issues, but when push came to shove, they were there for my Brother and I.
At one point they probably should have split up, but there was no way people did that when they had young children back in my day.
They were Married for 56 Years when my Mom passed away.
Mother died at age 85. Her mind was as clear as ever but she was so sick then that death was a relief for her. December 5th was her birthday and I got a letter from one of my older Sisters. She said she misses Mother as much now as when Mother died 10 years ago.
I too miss her love and kindness and she was just plain pleasant to be around. One day I asked if she knew the birthdays of all her 13 grandchildren. She knew them all. I then asked about her great grandchildren and she knew every one except she said she was not certain about one, she thought she knew but wasn’t totally certain.
I could never do that no matter how hard I tried. It did show what was important to Mother.
What I would say to my 18-year-old self:
“Get the hell away from me, you repulsive little jerk!”
If you ever meet and fall in love with a woman and later find she is in debt, do not loan her your life savings. (Not me but a relative.)
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