Dear Jane:

As you are growing up you receive lots of ‘advice’ on how to make it through the world with as little scars as possible, and it’s my opinon that we heed that advice about 60% of the time…the other 40% time we choose to figure things out on our own. There are some particular pieces of advice that I will always remember, mostly because I did NOT listen and I learned my lesson the hard way.




1. “Don’t change your major after your sophomore year in college”, I changed mine DURING, my sophomore year from Speech – Language Pathology and Audiology to Psychology. It was possibly the dumbest decision I ever made.

2.       “Don’t get a degree in something that requires more school”.  There is not a job in the world for someone with a BA in Psychology, trust me.

3. “Don’t drink by the pool, you may fall asleep”: I ended up with the worse sunburn of my adulthood.

Out of not listening to people’s advice some really great things can come from the lessons you learn:



1. “Don’t pledge that club with the Skulls & Crossbones” – made some of the best friends of my life.

2. “Don’t drink too much while you are in Chicago” – a little over 8 months later I met my son.

3.       “Don’t call Tarzan for help with Physics, you WILL fail.” Twelve years later and we are still together.

When given advice you really need to consider the source and always take it with a grain of salt.  If you decide to not listen, be prepared to hear plenty “I told you so’s”.  If the advice is given by your mother, heed MY advice and listen, she is ALWAYS right!