You know I should have been more attentive, and taken to heart the many words of wisdom mother inflected upon me growing up, but now in retrospect I can only start to recall just a few of them. Maybe bypracticing this excercise in recall, I might at least utilize some of them in my future hurdles with life. You know one of the first bits of advice she gave me was, "you never go in business with a friend or a relative". If a business is worth having, it is worth having alone. She said life was neither too short, nor too long and for some truths to be known and be taken to heart, the stimulus must be pain. You can change your mind about anything, but you can't change the way you feel. I never really understood, but she joked, love is pretense, whereas sorrow is real. Don't spend your life searching for true love, but a few moments to open up your heart to a good friend. She always taught me to be honest as most parents do, but she added."honesty in neither a birthright nor a virtue, but it can be gradually fostered thru a fearless search
of yourself."
She often reminded me that the most precious joy to be received in this earthly transition is to be found within. Man has an apparent trait to live in the
problem rather than live in the solution, to coddle the
negative rather than embrace the positive. She often reminded me that misery is optional.When I was in my twenties and thought I had hundreds of close friends,she reminded me to count myself lucky if I could truly count my close friends on the fingers of one hand. I think I'm beginning to see her wisdom in respect to this projection.
Mom always told me, "nothing means that wasn't meant", and know I know what she meant was to serve to carry out His will, and not mine. I never really comprehended early on one of her favorite quotes. She admonished me to "spend more time accepting
than loving."