{"id":359,"date":"2012-07-09T13:14:12","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T19:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/?p=359"},"modified":"2012-10-30T09:16:17","modified_gmt":"2012-10-30T15:16:17","slug":"the-party-is-back-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/the-party-is-back-people\/","title":{"rendered":"The Party Is Back People!"},"content":{"rendered":"

First let me say that I had a great weekend and I hope that all of you did as well. The sun was shining and the fires seem to be a little better (at least I hope) and my daughter came home from a week in Idaho she spent at her friend\u2019s cabin. My husband and I were empty nesters last week and it felt so bizarre! I wish I was too young to be an empty nester, but I am really only two years away from that\u2026<\/p>\n

YIKES! Anyway, it is great to have Ashley home again with us. She came bounding through the door yelling something to the effect of \u201cThe party is back people!\u201d It is amazing how much joy and humor and energy she brings into our household! Having her humor back in the house got me to thinking about the power and influence that a positive, optimistic, happy person can have on the world. It is amazing how a happy person can make life brighter and more fun. I was touched this weekend with the thought that when we reach our old age, and I don\u2019t mean 40 or 50, although my kids would say that is old, I am talking about 90 to 100, which I hope all of you live to see. I was touched with the thought that when we look back at our lives at that age that we will look back and wish we had been happier, more grateful, and more willing to smile and be kind to others. We will wish we had enjoyed every moment that life brought our way, even the tough ones. We will wish we had loved more, and complained less. We will wish we had looked at the humor in life and allowed ourselves to laugh out loud more often, rather than being embarrassed at what people might think. We will wish we had bound through the door yelling \u201cthe party is back people\u201d far more often :).<\/p>\n

I found a great article written by a man who was 95 at the time he wrote it with his own instructions for people on how to live their lives. It really validated the thoughts I had this weekend:<\/p>\n

Life\u2019s Little Instructions (given by 95 year old William Snell in 1993)<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sing in the shower.<\/address>\n
Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.<\/address>\n
Watch the sunrise at least once a year.<\/address>\n
Never refuse homemade brownies.<\/address>\n
Strive for excellence not perfection.<\/address>\n
Plant a tree on your birthday.<\/address>\n
Learn three clean jokes.<\/address>\n
Return borrowed vehicles with the gas tank full.<\/address>\n
Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.<\/address>\n
Leave everything a little better then you found them.<\/address>\n
Keep it simple.<\/address>\n
Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.<\/address>\n
Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.<\/address>\n
Be forgiving of yourself and others.<\/address>\n
Say \u201cthank you\u201d a lot.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/address>\n
Say \u201cplease\u201d a lot.<\/address>\n
Avoid negative people.<\/address>\n
Wear polished shoes.<\/address>\n
Remember other people\u2019s birthdays.<\/address>\n
Commit yourself to constant improvement.<\/address>\n
Have a firm handshake.<\/address>\n
Send lots of Valentine cards, sign them.<\/address>\n
Look people in the eye.<\/address>\n
Be the first to say \u201chello\u201d<\/address>\n
Return all things you borrow.<\/address>\n
Make new friends but cherish old ones.<\/address>\n
Keep secrets.<\/address>\n
Plant flowers every spring.<\/address>\n
Have a dog.<\/address>\n
Always accept an outstretched hand.<\/address>\n
Stop blaming others.<\/address>\n
Take responsibility for every area of your life.<\/address>\n
Wave at kids on school buses.<\/address>\n
Be there when people need you.<\/address>\n
Don\u2019t expect life to be fair.<\/address>\n
Never underestimate the power of love.<\/address>\n
Live your life as an exclamation, not an explanation.<\/address>\n
Don\u2019t be afraid to say \u201cI made a mistake.\u201d<\/address>\n
Don\u2019t be afraid to say \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/address>\n
Compliment even small improvements.<\/address>\n
Keep your promises no matter what.<\/address>\n
Marry only for love.<\/address>\n
Rekindle old friendships.<\/address>\n
Count your blessings.<\/address>\n
Call your mother.<\/address>\n
And your dad too, if they happen to be alive.<\/address>\n

\u00a0What a great thought to start our Monday off with! I know that my attitude will be much better this week having been reminded of the way I want to live my life. So come to work today and say \u201cTHE PARTY IS BACK PEOPLE\u201d, then smile and laugh and have a FABULOUS MONDAY!<\/p>\n

~Amy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First let me say that I had a great weekend and I hope that all of you did as well. The sun was shining and the fires seem to be a little better (at least I hope) and my daughter came home from a week in Idaho she spent at her friend\u2019s cabin. My husband […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[101,51,181,135,161],"class_list":["post-359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ashley","tag-family","tag-laugh","tag-no-regrets","tag-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}