Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio - "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written." My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple..

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you..

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business..

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Warning for all parents/grandparents, a friend sent this to me and I thought
it was important enough to send on.....we all know someone with children --


Yesterday, my youngest daughter, Halle who is just 4 years old, was rushed

to the ER by her father for being severely lethargic and incoherent in her classroom.
He was called to her school by the school secretary who said that she was

'VERY VERY SICK'!

He told me that when he arrived at her classroom, Halle was barely sitting in the chair.
She couldn't hold her own head up and when he looked into her eyes, she
couldn't focus them.

He immediately scooped her up and rushed her to the closest ER, and then
called me. When he got there, they ran blood test after blood test and did x-rays,
every test imaginable. Her white blood cell count was normal, nothing was
out of the ordinary. When I arrived at the ER, the doctor there told us that he
had done everything that he could do so he was transferring her to Saint Francis
Hospital for further tests.


Right as we were leaving in the ambulance, her teacher arrived at the ER and
told us that after questioning Halle 's classmates, She had found out that our little
girl had licked liquid hand sanitizer off of her hands !!!

Hand sanitizer, of all things. But it makes sense.These days they have all kinds
of different scents and flavors and when you have a curious child, they are going
to put all kinds of things into their mouths.

When we arrived at the Saint Francis' Hospital ER, we told the ER Doctor there to
check her blood alcohol level, and yes we did get weird looks, but they did it.
The results showed her blood alcohol level was 85% -- six hours after we first
took her. There's no telling what it would have been if we would have requested
it at the first ER...

Since then, her school and a few surrounding schools have taken the liquid hand
sanitizers out of all the lower grade classes, but what's to stop middle and high
schoolers from ingesting this stuff?

After doing research on the Internet, we found out that it only takes about
3 squirts of the stuff ingested to be fatal to a toddler.

For her blood alcohol level to be so high, it would be like someone her size
drinking120 proof liquor. So PLEASE PLEASE don't disregard this because
we don't ever want another family to go through what ours has gone through.

This can also be verified on truth or fiction, see below...

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/h/hand-sanitizer.htm <http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/h/hand-sanitizer.htm>