where's the instruction manual?

All of life is such a learning process. Our parents guide us, but we still have to make our own mistakes and hopefully learn from them. I told my mother once that if we learn from our mistakes I should be a genius by now. So many times I have wished there was an instruction manual, a reference book, anything to help make the decisions in life that are just too hard. The saying that life must be lived forward but only understood backwards is oh so true. Many times we have no idea why things are the way they are, especially when you are right in the middle of it, but once you have moved out or moved on things suddenly make a little more sense. All the good times, all the tough times, all the mistakes ... they really do happen for a reason - even though I hate that phrase - it's true. Well I believe that most things do. Sometimes I wish things in life were different or that I could change something, but I realize all of that has made me who I am today. All the things I have experienced, the places I have been, the people I have met... it's all part of me. I will be facing another birthday in a week. Almost 38 years have gone by ... they have been pretty good and I'm looking forward to a few more.

Thought today... Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same.