For the last three years or so this list has been hanging around my desk, on my bulletin board, pasted to my fridge-you get the idea. Just some key words to encourage me and keep me moving forward in anticipation:

My Apple Tree Philosophy – Just Plant It!

The Basket Philosophy – gather up the pieces that none be lost

Mom’s Taxi – Be about the business of getting people where they need to go – including yourself.

Learning is Exponential – Every bit of knowledge integrates and facilitates mastery of something seemingly unrelated.

The Apple Tree philosophy has to do with one’s tendency to say, “Maybe I shouldn’t waste time and money planting a tree, I probably won’t even be living here in 5 or 6 years when the tree bears fruit.” Just plant it!

Sometimes the experiences of ones life seem fragmented, little bits and pieces of unrelated stuff.  Gather them up, every experience is useful and has purpose.  Maybe you will end up with 12 extra baskets full of good stuff as in the miracle of Jesus feeding the multitudes.

I love my kids and I love being part of getting them where they need to go.  I’ve been doing this for over 30 years.  Most recently I realized that I also have a responsibility to get my self where I am supposed to go.

Almost daily I experience the sensation of some new bit of knowledge creating a metaphor that applies to several other areas of comprehension. May I never stop learning; never stop believing that each puzzle piece I pick up has an entire puzzle somewhere out there, and may I always have the eagerness to keep searching and thinking and learning.