30 things I learned in my 20's

I'm allowed to post a one man shot for a post like this, aren't I? Good.

I admit that I've been thinking about this list ever since yaya published hers, and come my 30th birthday, I was still stuck at #16.

Maybe I'm growing more and more hard-headed with time? A scary thought. I'd like to think I have just learned SO MUCH over the past 10 years that I could never get it organized into a list of 30 things. Something like that.

Anyway, I think I did learn a few things, and most are things that I am really thankful to have learned.

Here they are:

30 Things I Learned in My 20's

1. Hot chocolate is exponentially better when made with milk vs. water

2. It's worth whatever I might be missing out on ( 95% of the time) to go to bed early.

3. How to appropriately correspond with someone who wants to sue me. Thank you, Matt Jackson.

4. I am, in fact, more like my mom than I thought. And that's a good thing.

5. Root canals aren't as bad as most people think they are. But it is still a bad idea to watch a cartoon video of the procedure the night before.

6. The astounding impact a Volvo can sustain while keeping a person relatively unharmed.

7. That sleeping in my contacts for months is, in fact, a bad idea after all.

8. That I am a lot tougher than I thought I was.

9. That #8 is singularly by the Lord's grace.

10. That children's literature is some of the very best there is.

11. How to negotiate a ridiculous deal with used car salesmen.

12. That being single throughout my 20's is a lot more fun (and fulfilling) than I thought it would be.

13. That cable TV is not worth the money it costs. Nor is Tivo.

14. That I will give up cable TV, but probably not Netflix.

15. That Dave Ramsay knows what he's talking about.

16. The unspeakable value of the oldest of friends.

17. To trust my gut...but only sometimes...

18. Because my gut knows how to play tricks on me (thanks Kathryn Evans)

19. What an overhead projector is, and most importantly is not, capable of (thank you, Graham Bucciantini, for the digging up of this memory)

20. That email will never, ever replace the handwritten, mailed letter. At least in my world it won't.

21. When to speak up, and when to shut up (at least, I think I have a better grasp on this than I did ten years ago...)

22. Cheesy, but this song helps to articulate A LOT of what I learned in my 20's (not surprisingly, it's Sara Groves):

"so conditioned for the win
to share in victor's stories
but in the place of ambition's din
I have heard of other glories
and I pray for an idea
and a way i cannot see
it's too heavy to carry
and impossible to leave
I can't just fight when I think I'll win
that's the end of all belief
and nothing has provoked it more
than a possible defeat"

23. That Clifford IS hilarious and NOT because I was 12 when I discovered it. It really is a work of art. Say what you want.

24. That I will always, always sleep better with clean sheets on my bed. Yes, this took me 30 years to learn.

25. That being a part of a church that I LOVE (by choice, mind you, not because it's got everything together) is something that I need far more than I thought I did.

26. That I can eat on $25 a week if I have to.

27. I consider my discovery of Patty Griffin one of the best things I learned in my 20's.

28. That when in doubt, listen to Dad (I realize most people learn this earlier in life. Oops.)

29. That being tan isn't worth what the sun is doing to my skin.

30. That just like my 20's, my 30's will be fleeting, but that's okay, because the best part is what will be eternal anyway.

Aand, I ended it with a rhyme. BAM.

Here's to the 30's!!