After a lengthy discussion about where the couch, recliners, end tables and lamps would go I paused and asked him a question. “We’ve each been on our own for so long now, do you think it will be hard to adapt to sharing our ‘space’ with one another?”
“I hope not.” He cautiously replied. “I hope that I’m an easy person to live with. Then again, no one’s been around to tell me otherwise. I might be a total jerk.”
I laughed, as I knew that he was too good of a person to be a jerk to live with. I’m certain we’ll annoy one another with our unique habits and differing needs for personal space… but that’s all part of learning how to go through life with another person. The topic then led me remember that famous writing by author Robert Fulghum called All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Because it’s really all the exact same stuff packed into a different framework.
The following is an excerpt from his writing:
Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
My personal Top Ten List of the points, however that REALLY stand out:
- Share (this MIGHT be the hardest one of all)
- Play fair (or fight fair I suppose also applies)
- Don’t hit people (DUH)
- Say you’re sorry (even if you’re not sure who’s wrong)
- Flush (and put the seat down, please)
- Live a balanced life (in my opinion… “Balanced” means play ALWAYS outweighs work)
- Take lots of naps (so you don’t kill each other)
- Watch for traffic (or trouble)
- Hold hands (no matter who is looking)
- Stick together (no matter what)
Woman In Thrisis 