From 
Del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
TwitThis
Mom Knows Best
Sometimes I have questions and you have answers. So in keeping with this issue's theme, I asked myself, Okay, smarty, what's the best advice you've ever received? Turns out, I've gotten plenty from many wonderful people.
Mom's Best AdviceIn high school I wanted to try out for the basketball team. I loved the game but didn't have the moves. And I wasn't tight with the cool kids on the team. I sweated the decision and started to chicken out. I told myself, You don't really want to spend all your free time shooting hoops.
That's when Momma said, When in doubt, do the positive. Can't decide whether you should get all dressed up and go to that party? Don't know if you should "intrude" on a new neighbor with a homemade welcome cake? Worried that an old lady would find you rude for offering to help her with her grocery bags? Do the positive! Go to the party, bake the cake, help the old lady. A life of doing is better than one of regretting what you didn't dare to do.
Husband's Healthy Advice
Why do men have such bad aim when it comes to throwing socks into the laundry basket? It's a universal gender problem. My husband's response to my nagging is great advice for both women and men: If all you have to complain about is dirty socks bouncing off the rim, your life is good. Lighten up!
My Bartender's Best Advice
When we were single, my girlfriends and I tried all the usual gambits to meet men. We thought we'd hit on a secret: Target the bars where professional guys go. So we hung out in lawyers' bars and bistros near the hospital. Night after night we struck out, wasting money and energy in fruitless flirting. One evening, the guy behind the bar gave me the best dating advice I've ever heard: If you want to meet guys, get a dog and a Frisbee and go to the park.
His point was that somewhere there was a guy looking for me just as hard as I was looking for him, and that if I relaxed and did what I liked, I would find a guy who liked what I did. "Doing what doesn't work for you," he said, "doesn't work for you."
I took the barkeep's advice, literally. I got a puppy at the pound and went to the park. The puppy got sick; I panicked and called a friend. Lo and behold, the friend -- whom I'd never thought of dating before -- was a guy who liked what I liked. Call it puppy love, but the previously mentioned sock tosser, Alex, and I (and the dog) are still going strong.
Advertisement 
Your Comments
See all
...