If you are anything like me, you may have looked in the mirror at some point recently and asked yourself how you got here. If you feel like you are the subject of the Talking Heads song Once in a Lifetime, then you and I are in the same boat. And if you’re like me, you realize that life is short and it isn’t getting any longer. Each day can seem like we are just getting through it while we wait for our kids to be self-sufficient. Perhaps you feel like this period of life is just the stage you have “get through” before you can start living the good life. That good life may be a time you believe you can stat accomplishing your life’s calling or start crossing s of your bucket list. I’ll let you in on a secret: it’s not. Every passing day can be a lost chance to do the things you’ve always wanted. Just like in the Talking Heads song, life will march on whether we want it to or not. Rather than have a freak out moment like I did, it’s time to start putting your identity in something that isn’t based on the things you do. Let me tell you what I mean.

Isn’t it funny how when were kids we swore we’d swore we’d never have the same rules in our house as our parents had when were kids? As an 8-year-old, I was convinced that when I had kids, I’d never let my kids have a bedtime. I’d also let them have cookies in their bed, never have them brush their teeth, and never make them eat any food they didn’t like. I swore I would never make my kids eat tuna noodle casserole, as I was I scooped another helping on my dinner plate. When I was a kid, I was sure I knew better than any grown-up. Well wouldn’t you know it, now that I’m a grown-up with kids, I can unashamedly say the one thing that 8-year-old me would have never uttered: Mom and Dad, you were right.