Resourceful-Mom

Life Lessons

If you’re like me, when something happens in your life, you run off to react and then settle back into autopilot until the next big event happens.  Along the way, people more experienced at life try to give you advice about these occasional crisis.  Some of the information is useful, but other pieces mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to you at the time.  Later, when you aren’t busy stomping out fires, you’ll recall bits and pieces of valuable information.

I  have learned many things as a result of doing them the wrong way.  One of my most memorable lessons was how important is it is to make sure that a car has oil.  The level of importance became apparent when my engine locked and parts flew all over the interstate while I was on my way home from work late one night.  The noise of an engine coming apart at 60 mph is sketched in my mind permanently. Of course, one would think, Car Oil 101 wouldn’t have to be repeated, right?  Wrong.  I became so obsessed with making sure my (next) car had oil that the car stalled on the interstate as a result of the oil level.  Why? Because having too much oil in a car is as detrimental, although not as costly, as not having enough oil in a car.

So recently, as a result of a lesson I learned 20 years ago, a mechanic had  to prove to me that the “rough ride” I’m experiencing is the result of a bent rim, not the oil level.

Today, I understand why my elders gave me lessons in bits and pieces.  I also understand why it took so many of them to relay the same messages.  That’s how God works and, as a result, that’s how life works.  There are gems of information sprinkled all around us but depending upon where you are in your life and how receptive you are at that time, you may not see them as valuable.

Becoming a single mother 2 days after my 18th birthday resulted in my learning some lessons very early in life.  This is a good thing if you are able to articulate the lessons but that’s seldom what happens.  What does happen; however, is as you get older, you get so excited about what you’ve learned that you want to share it with those that will travel the same path knowing you will never have those opportunities again.

And so goes this blog.