Things I Learned in 2011

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"Things We Learned in (fill in the year)" is the title of my friend Heather's annual letter  included with her family's Christmas card. So beloved is this note, my daughters have often asked during December, "Is it here yet?" 

It is the best holiday letter we receive. Every. Single. Year.

So, with most sincere apologies to Heather, Dan, Andrew, Grace and Julia, I am hoping that they subscribe to Charles Caleb Colton's aphorism: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" while I steal their idea to close out 2011.

What I learned in 2011...

~Woody Allen is back with his movie "Midnight In Paris."
~Flying business class for the first time has ruined any other flight I will take - forever.
~High school students maintain a black hole of excuses for missing assignments.
~The car has been the scene of some of the finest conversations and most hateful arguments with my teenager.
~Forgiveness is always an option.
~Older people consistently offer a greeting when I am walking.  Younger people rarely do.
~I am on a mission to give and receive greetings for all walkers I see on my way (regardless if they are wearing earbuds)
~I, too often, give fear my internal steering wheel.
~Stopping in Armonk NY for a hot vanilla chai tea removes my 'inner cranky' during car rides to and from Boston.
~There is no end to delicious Italian food in the North End.
~Farmers markets provide much more than just good food.
~Teaching your teen to drive is one of the five bravest things a parent does.
~(The other four bravest things are shifting everyday)
~Joni Mitchell is right...we are stardust.
~Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson details our stardust origins with gorgeous passion and humor (Take a moment and watch him explain this to Stephen Colbert from minute markers 21:21 to 25:30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXh9RQCvxmg)
~You can never see the Macy's Holiday Light Show too many times. 

Have a peaceful, joyful, healthy 2012 full of learning...