It comes down to this

Some things I've learned in 2008:

* I've been 5'2" since I was 13 years old and I'm now almost 36 - it's probably inevitable that all three of my children will be taller than I am. One already is.

* No matter how excited she originally was about reading it, when I got all giddy about a book and kept insisting that she read it, she lost interest. I have to learn to keep my parental mouth shut.

* Sometimes all it takes is a baby to bring a bunch of cousins, aunts and uncles close together again.

* If I had known that marriage was going to eventually be this good, it would've been much easier to endure the really hard times.

* My daughter managed to survive the first semester of Middle School just fine without me holding her hand and compulsively organizing her locker. That realization was pretty hard to grasp at first. Now I'm marginally okay with it.

* I turned around twice my babies are suddenly not babies anymore and the day is closer than I probably realize that I will no longer be the coolest mom. I might still manage to maintain a certain level of coolness, but my days are numbered as #1. And you know what? I'll survive.

* My office will never be clean. I have come to terms with that and I'm done whining about it.

* A couple of stuffed possums wired to an outhouse and a camouflage camping trailer make all the difference in the world.

* No matter how hard you try, sometimes people just aren't going to love you to way you want them to or need them to. It's not that they don't love you, they just love you the only way they know how. You can either drive yourself nuts about it or accept it.

* My mom is still my hero.

* Saying something over and over to my kids does not gain effectiveness when I raise my voice even though that totally would make sense.

* God's grace is totally undeserved. When I stop running around like a crazy person and slow down long enough to breathe I realize this and am completely awed and grateful.

* I need to slow down and breathe more often.


Happy New Year, y'all.