A few good reads.

Even though I'm not writing as much as I want to, other people are! Here are a few links to posts I've really enjoyed lately. 

A mom writes a letter to her children On Turning 40. It is full of wisdom, although I'm pretty sure Elaine is wise far beyond her forty years.

"I've thought a lot about what I would tell you on turning 40, and the thing that always comes back to me is how exceedingly lucky I am. I hope you never underestimate what a huge role luck plays in your lives. We don't have a lot of control in this world. Terrible things happen, wonderful things happen - and almost all of them are completely unexplainable, or their explanations ring hollow if given more than a moment's thought. I urge you not to dwell on either. Just keep moving forward - luck can turn on a dime. And wear a hat when it's sunny!"

Celebrating her 14th wedding anniversary, Stacey shares what she's learned over the years. As always, she'll have you exclaiming "Exactly!" out loud (for example, see #7!)

"7. Keep in mind the things he does.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the things he doesn’t do.  Like, just off the top of my head FOR EXAMPLE, we have a deal wherein going out after the kids’ bedtime is always okay.  But if he goes out for beers, the kitchen is spotless when he gets home and when I go to wine night I’m lucky if the dishes have made it to the sink from the table.  But. That is okay because I have never – in my entire life – so much as touched a lawn mower and I never will. He also kills spiders, builds playhouses, snakes drains, and cleans up all dog vomit, even if it happens during the day and I obnoxiously throw a towel over it so that I don’t have to look at it."

And if you have time, check out A Nation of Wimps... it's a long article, but worth the read. 

"No one doubts that there are significant economic forces pushing parents to invest so heavily in their children's outcome from an early age. But taking all the discomfort, disappointment and even the play out of development, especially while increasing pressure for success, turns out to be misguided by just about 180 degrees. With few challenges all their own, kids are unable to forge their creative adaptations to the normal vicissitudes of life. That not only makes them risk-averse, it makes them psychologically fragile, riddled with anxiety. In the process they're robbed of identity, meaning and a sense of accomplishment, to say nothing of a shot at real happiness. Forget, too, about perseverance, not simply a moral virtue but a necessary life skill. These turn out to be the spreading psychic fault lines of 21st-century youth. Whether we want to or not, we're on our way to creating a nation of wimps."

Happy reading!