A poem that hit home today...

As I was driving into the office this morning it was a light drizzle that was falling while I was really wishing I was still asleep in bed.
The Writer's Almanac was on NPR with a poem that just resonated with me today. Something that isn't out of the ordinary, isn't that unusual, but all the things we really do need to consider.

Wylie age 5
April 2012

Excerpts from "How to be Perfect" by Ron Padgett

Get some sleep.

Eat an orange every morning.
Be friendly. It will help make you happy.
Hope for everything. Expect nothing.
Take care of things close to home first. Straighten up your room
before you save the world. Then save the world.
Be nice to people before they have a chance to behave badly.
Don't stay angry about anything for more than a week, but don't
forget what made you angry. Hold your anger out at arm's length
and look at it, as if it were a glass ball. Then add it to your glass
ball collection.
Wear comfortable shoes.
Do not spend too much time with large groups of people.
Plan your day so you never have to rush.
Show your appreciation to people who do things for you, even if
you have paid them, even if they do favors you don't want.

After dinner, wash the dishes.

Calm down.

Don't expect your children to love you, so they can, if they want
to.

Don't be too self-critical or too self-congratulatory.

Don't think that progress exists. It doesn't.

Imagine what you would like to see happen, and then don't do
anything to make it impossible.

Forgive your country every once in a while. If that is not
possible, go to another one.

If you feel tired, rest.

Don't be depressed about growing older. It will make you feel
even older. Which is depressing.

Do one thing at a time.

If you burn your finger, put ice on it immediately. If you bang
your finger with a hammer, hold your hand in the air for 20
minutes. you will be surprised by the curative powers of ice and
gravity.

Do not inhale smoke.

Take a deep breath.

Do not smart off to a policeman.

Be good.

Be honest with yourself, diplomatic with others.

Do not go crazy a lot. It's a waste of time.

Drink plenty of water. When asked what you would like to
drink, say, "Water, please."

Take out the trash.

Love life.

Use exact change.

When there's shooting in the street, don't go near the window.

So my reflections on this that just are boring but hey they stood out to me....

1. Sleep is so good for us. Especially in order to be adjusted, intelligent and healthy

2. My parents had us eat a grapefruit half almost every morning in the winter. I do not remember being sick   all that often. 

3. My mother was a planner. She never liked to rush and worse yet she hated to have to backtrack or redo something. It has definitely become one of my traits. If I rush, I forget something and then have to redo or backtrack or get lost. 

4. I try to do the dishes. IF I don't and Wyatt doesn't next thing we know there is a small family of dishes in our sink that reproduced overnight. Also waking up to a clean kitchen is fantastic. Doing the dishes intermittently while cooking also gives you more counter space. 

5. Appreciation goes a long way. Just saying thank you can change the course of events in ways you would never expect. 

6. I do not do well with smarting off to police. In fact I've been treated horribly by the police in certain states in ways that border on discrimination. Keeping quiet just isn't part of my instinct with them. However, in one particular state I made what I thought was a horrid statement to a police officer before I looked him in the eye. Immediately apologized. He didn't even flinch and told me I was just being honest. 

7. Ah, the trash. I did this for a long time as I was the only one so it was my job. Now I am patiently awaiting Wylie to get old enough to do it. 

8. I LOVE EXACT CHANGE. 

9. Ask Wyatt about the genius of not being near windows during shootings. Much less have him explain the quality of the inside of bathtubs....

So my reflections. It's a great poem.