I think I should start living by some of these...

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit card debts every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Sometimes, just agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time some time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come - this is particularly true at my age of 90!

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

What was I thinking?

OK, so you remember when you were a kid right? You remember how your parents used to go nuts at you because 'something' you had done was so stupid or dangerous that it worried them? Not that you managed to grasp the concept of what was the actual problem because, all you knew is it ruined your fun. You all with me on this?

Right well here are two of my absolute classics that stick firmly in my mind....

1) Water, water everywhere.

Back in the day when I lived in Newark (Nottinghamshire not New Jersey) the road we lived on would flood. More importantly though so did all the fields around us. You would get a good couple of feet of water as the River Trent would burst its banks. Well this was a great time for us kids because we could 'paddle' around in the middle of the usually busy road!! Great Fun.

Well on one of these floods my brother Howard and I decided that the paddling side was just a bit to boring and we thought we would step up the pace in the beach quality Rubber Dingy that we had. So away we went to garage and got it out and blew it up with a foot pump, grabbed the oars and set sail off up the road!

Oh what a lovely time we had paddling along enjoying the view and passing what ever piece of junk had been swept away by the flood...like buckets, bits of trees, you name it, we passed it. Round the Rugby Pitch we went boating between the goal posts at both ends. and then heading out across the Cow Field towards the local Cricket Pitch. When we arrived there we moored outside the Club House and ate whatever it was we had taken from the house for our trip. Re boarding our dingy we set sail for the crease because, we were trying to find the edges of it through the murky dirty water, that is when it happened. The next thing we knew we were face to face with a very red faced man in fishing waders....Dad! I tell you this now, he DID NOT look happy!! We were dragged back to dry land, where we were both promptly grounded for the next week.

Reason: Flood water is dangerous and contains god knows what bacteria, you don't know what the current is like and you cant find the edges of banks and ditches, not only that you could drown plain and simple!!!

2) Lets make a den.....

Now my Uncle used to have a yard round the back of our Grandma's house where he participated in all sorts of businesses...from House Removals and Clearances to Paper Baling for recycling. Eco Friendly huh? Now apart from the fact that we got to go out with Grandad to move people from one house to another. We also liked to play around the yard, which Uncle David (My mums brother) did not mind at all. Additionally, it was really interesting watching them press and bale the paper and stack it in the yard. The bales were then covered with canvass to stop them getting wet.

Now talking of getting wet, Howard (yes him again) and I discovered that we could play around under the bales and not get wet when it rained because of the canvas covers....awesome! So we made a den or two in the different stacks but, the flaw in the plan was the distinct lack of light which made it very dark in there...so we needed a source of light. Now at this point I think most people would go get a Torch or Flashlight...Not us we got.....CANDLES!

Oh yeah we dotted all these candles round in our little paper dens. We played all day and then went home, only after we had extinguished our candles. Think we were kind of missing the point somehow!

Well it was no surprise that one day Uncle David showed up at our house and told how he had found the candles etc...It is also no surprise that we got grounded...AGAIN!

Reason: Fire kills, end of story!

Needless to say as a parent myself I can see what the issue was with these incidents and I am grateful that my own daughter never did anything quite as stupid.

As they say 'Hindsight is a wonderful thing'