Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Confessions of a Thirty-Something (39.99999..)

What I have learned in my brief 39 years.....

1. People want and need to think kindly of others.

2. Life is too short to buy small shrimp and drink cheap wine.

3. Almost everyone can stand to have one more laugh in their day.

4. There are more people than we can ever realize who hold us in their thoughts and prayers.

5. A smile needs no translation.

6. Becoming a husband and then a father is the best thing that ever happened to me.

7. Most people like it short and sweet.

8. Wisdom and freedom is in knowing what you can do without.

9. Spending time among rivers and mountains, oceans and woods is never wasted time.

10. Good music and good writing never grow old.

11. Kids need to get caught doing good things too.

12. Everyday, average people commit extraordinary, selfless acts that mostly go unrecognized.

13. There are no secrets- everything is in divine order.

14. I am "too gentle to run with wolves" (I'm just now figuring this out.)

15. I've still got a lot to learn.

16. Getting pissed at others (especially drivers) is really all about you- not the other person.

17. Existence continues; age is only a number.... you are as young as you allow yourself to feel.

Signing off on my last full day as a Thirty-something.... it's been great so far and I expect only bewilderment of the grandest, always (God, I still feel like such a kid!)

14 Comments:

Blogger Meredith said...

Happy birthday, Tommy!

Great list - especially "Life is too short to buy small shrimp" -I agree.

At 39.999 you have a lot of inherent wisdom, and this doesn't always come with age.

Blessings to you, my friend.

2:15 AM  
Blogger Jon said...

You've learned a lot! Thanks for sharing your wisdom, and Happy Birthday!

7:52 AM  
Blogger Trev Diesel said...

Happy Birthday, friend - I'll buy you a drink when we get down there in late-June. In the meantime, kiss that family and continue to share your wisdom and "bewilderment" of the world - many blessings on the next leg of your trip!

10:36 AM  
Blogger E said...

Happy Birthday! Don't have your experience, but I definitely concur with #9. Have a great day.

10:37 AM  
Blogger Kevin Beck said...

Happy birthday.

I got one more year until my 30s are a distant memory.

2:42 PM  
Blogger Buford said...

Ha ha Tommy's an old fart. Well if you live to be 80 you have lived half your life. Of course the average age for an American man is 76. But your above average.


I am "too gentle to run with wolves" (I'm just now figuring this out.)

Unfortunatly, sometimes I'm not. But the wolves sure know how to have fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! BROTHER. Stay young at heart and remember to all of you out there try not to be soooo serious. Life is nothing but a big joke anyway. The key is getting it.

3:02 PM  
Blogger z said...

And here I was thinking you were still relatively young. I didn't realize you were really old!

Happy birthday!

3:21 PM  
Blogger isaiah said...

Thanks to everyone for your birthday wishes!

So many wonderful, blessed friends!

9:53 AM  
Blogger anonymous julie said...

Happy birthday, old man. ;) May your eyes be forever bright.

7:56 PM  
Blogger Andrew said...

Okay, this is late, but happy birthday! Your wisdom is a great gift to me.

11:49 AM  
Blogger Darrell Grizzle said...

Happy birthday! Hope you had a better 40th birthday than I did, four years ago (temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, in a hospital ICU). Thanx for a great list!

10:13 PM  
Blogger Bad Alice said...

Happy belated birthday, and thanks for leaving a birthday message on my blog. I wish I had been by earlier, because I would have swiped this idea.

2:38 PM  
Blogger Larry Clayton said...

An awful lot of wisdom to be only 39. You know my age, and "God, I still feel like such a kid!"

This morning at the hospital I visited three oldies in succession: the 86 was pretty nice; the 89 was a real doll, and the 95, well she had gone down for tests.

You know why they're still here? because they're bright, like you and me--- and all our other friends who commented on your birthday.

10:31 AM  
Blogger Sadiq said...

come dear friend,
let me give u a big hug
at
ur belated birthday wish.

wish u all the blessings from sustainer of the heaven and earth.

u r in heaven already my friend, i hope u know this!

6:02 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Site Meter