Happy Birthday! I hope it’s an awesome one. : )

I’ll be 45 in August, and I’ve learned a few things over the years… at least I hope I have. Some of them are probably pretty well known or common sense, but for some people it takes seeing it in print to make it come to life for them. So here goes:

1.Never take anything in your life for granted, whether it’s family, friends, your job, money, or anything that’s important to you, because it can all be taken away in a heartbeat.

2. Always tell the people you care about that you love them, don’t assume they know.

3. Like Lynn says in her #3.. Don’t envy what other people have, but instead, use it as a template and motivation for your own life if that’s what you want. We all have different life experiences, education, abilities, means, and opportunities, that have brought us to where we are in our lives at this moment, and everyone is different. Use the tools you have to the best of your abilities and find your own direction.

4. Money is great, it gives you choices, but it’s not the end-all. I can promise you, when you’re old a gray, you’re not going to look back at your life and say “Remeber the time I made $20,000 on that deal? What you will remember are the moments, live for the moments.

5. You can tell everything you need to know about a person’s character by how they treat children and animals.

6. Live and let live. If you don’t like what someone else is doing or how they’re living their life, unless it’s directly affecting you, what do you care? Just let it go and go be happy in your own life.

7. Remember, no matter how bad how bad a situation may seem, or how bad you may be feeling about something, it’s only temporary. Life is always changing, evolving, and turning into something else. Eventually, it will always get better.

8. Family is everything. Friends will come and go throughout your life, but family will always be there.

9. Never stop learning. Take every opportunity you can get to learn from others, because there’s always someone out there that knows more than you do. Besides, it’s fun. : )