Hmmm… This is a tough question. So much that I could put here: Have more fun; don’t sweat the small stuff; honesty is the best policy.

But, I have a grandson trying to figure out what he wants to do now that he’s graduated from High School. I know he’ll figure it out, but he’s impatient with himself. He thinks he should know. After all, everyone else does.

The wrong turns are just as important as the right ones.

Since I have a horrible sense of direction, and since I’ve meandered through more than one career choice, I mean this both literally and figuratively.I t’s okay not to know where you’re going.

More than once, I’ve turned the wrong way on a one-way street. Whoa! That’s a jolt of adrenalin! Always, someone was willing to help me realize my error. Sometimes with a frantic warning before I made that wrong turn. Sometimes with an alarmed response after the fact. Always, I righted my course, and journeyed onward.

It’s okay to get a little lost and meander down the wrong path.

Once I overheard my middle-school-aged son tell a friend how long it would take us to our vacation spot.

“Two hours, plus a half-hour for getting lost.”

We have stumbled upon a lot of amazing things along the way. That’s how I found the Route 66 Museum in Pontiac. I didn’t mean to go there. I just meandered through on the way to someplace else.

I admit, I’m a little envious of people who know what they wanted to do from a very young age, stuck to their dreams and achieved them. Then I saw this wonderful graduation speech by Tim Minchin. Thank you Tim for validating my journey.

So, in my career life, I’ve been a Sanitarian, a Microbiologist, a Trained-Tongue, a Babysitter, a Chemist, a Photojournalist, and Novelist, a leader, a follower. I’ve been laid off, down-sized, right-sized, and fired (once before I started the job.) I’ve also fired employees, laid them off, and promoted them.

I can sew, knit, quilt, play the flute, speak in public, and listen intently. I once tried out for a community theatre just because it was something I feared. Most of these things because I decided to give it a whirl.

I got married young, had a beautiful family, got divorced (something I thought I’d never do,) moved four kids from a small farming community to a suburb of Chicago. I met my true soul-mate when one of my children was in the hospital, and I faced my first lay-off. The memory of some of these things still make my chest tighten.

I traveled to most of the states in the country, visited all but two continents. I never thought I’d like to travel, but I do. I love meeting people. I love hearing new ideas. I’m sure I’m right, and I’m okay with learning that I’m wrong.

I once said that my life’s motto is:

Turn right whenever possible and avoid oncoming traffic.

Loved-One laughed and said that’s the opposite of my motto, “You head right into the fray,” he said.

I laughed, too. He might be right, but oftentimes, I don’t realized that’s what I’m doing!

So, the lesson I wish I’d learned earlier, is

Life’s a journey, enjoy the ride.

It’s all good. Even the bad. Sometimes you will be lost. That’s part of the adventure, too. All of it makes you who you are.