What life and career have taught me, thus far

Don’t. Just don’t.

• Never give yourself a nickname. Like, ever.

• Unless you’re a doctor, don’t lead with your status or qualifications. People really don’t like that.

Children

• For children under age four, reread the same page at bedtime just to spend a few more minutes with your child. After four, they’re onto you. Right, Georgie?

• A squirrel can’t live in a fish tank, regardless of how adamant our daughter, Julia, is. Go ahead. Tell me I’m wrong.

• Dog showers work just as well to clean up kids when they come back in the house.

• Our daughter, Nora, taught me that some kids like to wave from the parade float while others much prefer to catch the candy thrown to the crowd.

Relationships

• Whenever you’re not where you should be, you’re not just absent but noticeably absent.

• Relationships are the foundation on which life either flourishes or withers away.

• I need to dedicate more time to the friends who make me belly laugh.

• Don’t let someone you love hit a homerun in an empty ballpark. Be there to watch them swing for the fences.

To my surprise

• Funny has more to do with sentence structure than I originally thought.

• Your ability to finish a book faster than a beer says a lot about you.

• I feel unreasonably proud when seeing our kids look a person in the eye, smile, and firmly shake their hand. Extra satisfaction if they stand when a person approaches.

• The older I get, the harder it is to tell how old another person is.

• I have no hidden talents and very few that are actually observable.

Business

• Clients hire you for their future, not your past.

• Every business has figurative dials. Turn one down so you can turn another dial up. Just don’t turn any of them off.

• A “seat at the table” is conditional. Your seat is predicated upon the value you provide.

Soapbox

• Buy a box of Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry every October. You’re welcome.

• I'm the kind of person who will wear jeans until my last days. Don't expect to see me in khakis or chinos late in life.

Family

• Sometimes someone sees something in you that you didn't see in yourself. Spend more time with said person. That’s you, Anne, my love.

• The best gift I ever received was the family histories my parents wrote. The absolute best part is the seemingly mundane details like a name or place that bring beautiful specificity to the story. Thanks, Mom and Dad.

• Bare isn’t the only way to lay your vulnerabilities, but it is the best way.

Everything else

• Changing minds is hard work. Especially your own.

• If someone – your partner, child, boss, etc.– isn’t getting hard truths from you, they'll get them somewhere else.

• The loudest among us should be trusted cautiously or not at all.

• An answer is a closed room. A question is an open door. This isn’t original, but no less profound.

• A community is made of people who don't just like you but love you as you are.

My work here is done. For now, at least.