Life Lessons

We all have learned to do or not to do a certain thing because of our life experiences. I wanted to share some of my experiences with you and give a little background information as to why this particular lesson stuck with me. My life lessons are in no particular order.

1. Always check to see if the stairs are still there before stepping out the door.

When I was about 11 my father was mowing our little strip of grass in front of our mobile home. To do a really good job he moved the metal steps from the front door. Unfortunately, he did not inform any one in the house about this. I was already outside so I didn't know what he had done until my little sister stepped out the front door into....space. Luckily she was holding on to the doorknob so she didn't get hurt, but the look on her face as she dangled from the doorknob still makes me giggle like a 11 year old girl. To give my daddy full credit when he saw her dangling there he let go of the running mower and ran over to save her. It was the fastest I had ever seen him move.

2. Before getting on an older elevator go to the bathroom.

When I was a student at LSU in the early eighties the library had elevators so old that I believe they were older than me (when you are 20 that's old). Anyway, it wasn't uncommon to hear of students being stuck in the elevator for an hour or more waiting for someone to rescue them. One friend of mine told me that she got stuck in a library elevator for 2 hours and 15 minutes with 5 other students. I found that horrifying, because I can do without a lot of things for 2 hours, but I'll need a bathroom break and I prefer privacy when I have one. So I retained this conversation as a life lesson never ever get on an elevator without taking a bathroom break first.

3. Check yourself in the mirror before you leave the restroom.

There are all kinds of hazards in the bathroom: you could leave with toilet paper stuck to your shoe, pants unzipped, or your dress tucked into your panties. All I'm going to say about this is luckily I was wearing my new pretty underwear at the time (I had confirmation my panties were pretty by the witnesses). Also it is a good idea to check to see if your collar is where it belongs and if your hair is doing what it should; check your buttons to make sure all of them are there doing their job and no food is dangling from your teeth or resting on your chest.

4. Check to see if you have your keys before you lock the door.

I've been locked out of both cars and homes more times than I care to admit. It is so easy to step out and close the door and then look for my keys. To compensate I have made extra keys to both my house and my car. I gave an extra set of keys to both and car and house to my mother and an extra house key to my sister. And I've put an extra house key on my office key ring. Since I've done that I can remember to have my keys in hand before shutting any door. Well, I almost always remember.

5. When borrowing someone's car, find out its particularities.

I've been caught short by this one several times. When I was sixteen my father asked me to drive his car to pick him up. That was great by me until one mile later the thing stopped working. That's when I found out the gas gauge was broken and had been for a very long time. It was a long walk back to the house. Then about five years later, I borrowed a friend's rental car to run a quick errand. At that point in my life I had never driven a new car and didn't know such things as you had to push a button to get the key out. I got to where I was going, couldn't get the keys out of the ignition and was afraid to leave the car with the keys hanging there. It only took three bystanders (all male) to figure it out for me. My father was a shade tree mechanic and loved to tinker with cars. Once he reworked the gismo (I'm not a mechanic) in charge of shifting gears so that the gears were in a different place, for example: reverse would be 3rd gear; 1st gear would be reverse and so on. I don't know if he was bored or if it was a burglar deterrent of some sort, but anyone borrowing that car would be in for a nightmare of a drive. Then there is the friend who got a speeding ticket when I was riding with him because he didn't know the car he borrowed had a speedometer that was off by 10 mph.

Okay, that's five of my life lessons, what lessons has life taught you? Please tell me the story behind the lesson - that's the fun part.