Brochure? What Brochure?

"Life is nothing like the brochure."

Remember your twenties, when you thought you had it all figured out? You were going to set the world on fire. You were going to be a better parent than your parents. You were going to work hard and play harder. You were going places!
Well, guess what?! Here we are, decades later and looking back on how foolish we were, how little we really knew. Life is a tricky task master that often delivers a curve ball when we were expecting a fast ball straight down the middle. We strike out more than we hit home runs. We see friends come and go. We see jobs come and go. We see waistlines and hairlines come and go. We change with the times, often begrudgingly. We reminisce about "the good ol' days". We smile when the young generation tells us they are going to do it differently.
The brochure? I think we were supposed to write our own brochure as we went along. We were supposed to figure out that kindness really does matter. People over property wins every time. Spending time on people, rather than spending money on them, creates memories that linger long after the "thing" is broken or forgotten in the closet. Knowing when to speak your mind and when to hold your tongue will always be a good way to live. Saying "I'm sorry" is the solution to many problems.
 Rain will fall in everyone's life. The brochure says to carry an umbrella.