Watch parables come to life

Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by kchristieh in religion

I’m a visual person. I’m far more likely to remember an image I see than words I read. That’s why I love the 36 Parables video series. This innovative project is bringing the parables of Jesus to life via short films.

These films are well-made and thought-provoking. They’re not at all dorky, and their messages have really stuck with me. Here’s one of my favorites: “Sean”, about a boy who’s in big trouble at school. It’s based on the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree (Luke 13:6-9)

The 36 Parables blog advises that you view the movie first, then read the passage it’s based on, then watch it again. I found that to be especially potent, as it helped me to internalize the message of the video and of the parable better.

Which one is your favorite?

Top 10 Lessons Learned from nearly 14 years as a Soccer Mom

Posted on 22. Feb, 2010 by kchristieh in life lessons, parenting, sports

When I registered my preschoolers for soccer in the Fall of 1996, I never imagined that I’d be a soccer mom until 2010. My soccer-viewing days ended last Friday when my daughter’s high school team lost in the first round of CIF playoffs. Our soccer experience was sometimes rewarding, and sometimes frustrating, but always an adventure.

Along the way, I learned or confirmed the following lessons:

1. Don’t become the frog in boiling water. If someone had told us how much club soccer would impact our family, we may not have chosen to do it. Instead, the warm water just got hotter and hotter.
2. Find your niche. I had no interest in being a referee, but I loved making AYSO team banners.
3. Even though it’s hard to make a banner of a hyena, whatever you design will be ok since no one’s sure what a hyena looks like. Use lots of fur. Best mascot ever.
4. Don’t question the refs. They’re trying hard, and they’re no more perfect than anyone else. Complaining won’t change the call, and it’ll just make things stressful.
5. Expect little, so you won’t be disappointed.
6. Get a chair with a built-in umbrella.
7. Kids don’t need snacks at the end of the game. But they like them as long as they’re not healthy.
8. Always carry a blanket, extra water and a first-aid kit in the car.
9. Bad coaches don’t get better.
10. Sports aren’t as enjoyable when winning becomes more important than having a good time.

My daughter says that she learned:

1. You should always work really hard, but
2. Hard work won’t always pay off, but
3. It’s worth it when you love the sport.
4. How to get along with all sorts of people.
5. How to deal with all sorts of coaches, which has helped her to adapt to different teachers, and some day, bosses.
6. How to be a team player.

Those are good lessons.

Would I do it over again? Only if the kids wanted to. They probably would.

Lessons I never thought I’d need to teach my teens

Posted on 16. Dec, 2009 by kchristieh in life lessons, parenting

When I became a parent, I knew we’d have talks about s*x, drugs, working hard, etc. But here are a few things I’ve felt compelled to teach my teens that I never expected we’d discuss, or discuss so soon. Most have come up either because of stories we’ve heard, movies we’ve seen or articles I’ve read. I’ve repeated each of the following many times to my kids, and hope that they don’t have to experience these situations to realize the wisdom of my words.

Parties & Drinking:

• If someone passes out at a party, they’re asleep if you can rouse them and they can talk, but they’re unconscious if they can’t talk.
  • If they’re asleep, summon an adult and keep making sure you can wake them and that they’re sleeping on their side in case they throw up.
  • If they’re unconscious, call 911. (or this might happen)
• Don’t attend parties that don’t have adult supervision.
• If you’re at a party and your intuition is telling you that things are going downhill, get out fast.
• Always respectfully do what a police officer or Sheriff’s deputy asks.

Drugs:

• Marijuana can be laced with more deadly drugs.
• You can become addicted to meth the first time you use it. So don’t.

S*x:

• Besides potential pregnancy and emotional and reputation fallout, a big reason to avoid s*x outside of marriage is STDs.
• Condoms don’t always work, and oral contraceptives won’t prevent STDs.

Technology:

• Don’t let any pictures be taken of yourself that you’d be ashamed of showing up in public.
• Don’t join a Facebook group or friend someone just because all your friends have.
• Don’t let kids you don’t completely trust handle your cellphone.

Media:

• Can you imagine discussing Viagra or Monica Lewinsky with an elementary schooler? If your kids watch tv, you’ll have discussions about topics such as these. Just wait until you’re sitting on the couch next to them when a love scene in a movie comes on. Awkward!

P**n: (note: using ** so I don’t get banned by search engines)

• Even one look at p**n can embed an image you’ll always remember, so don’t look at it.
• Figure out what you’ll say if you’re at someone’s house and they start looking at or watching p**n.
• Today’s p**n is often much skankier than the stuff that was in magazines many years ago since pictures and videos don’t usually pass through editors before they’re posted on the internet.

Driving:

• Always look up Angeles Crest Highway before you turn onto it or cross it.
• If you don’t come to such a complete stop that the body of the car doesn’t back up a little bit, the local Sheriff’s deputies may give you a ticket. Better to do it and avoid traffic school.
• It doesn’t matter if “everyone else” is driving other kids before their first year of California driving is up: it’s illegal, there’s a good reason it’s illegal, and you’ll lose many privileges if you either drive someone else when you’re too young or you drive with someone else who isn’t old enough to drive you.
• Don’t let anyone into your car whom you think might have drugs on them, since they could leave the drugs in your car and you could get into trouble.
• Motorcycles are dangerous. Even if you are the safest driver with the safest bike, you’ve only got two wheels and can skid out if someone else cuts you off. Then, you’re completely vulnerable.

Weapons:

• If a kid shows you a gun and you’re not under competent adult supervision, get away as quickly as possible and tell an adult.
• If someone even jokes about shooting someone, take it seriously and report it.

Emotions:

• Any time someone talks about suicide, take it seriously.
• If someone breaks up with you, then they don’t value you enough, so you shouldn’t pine over them. (That’s a tough one.)

Forgiveness:

• Gossip hurts.
• It’s better if you come to me and let me know you messed up than for me to find out later or for the mess to get bigger.
• “Sorry” means you’re never going to do it again.
• Don’t follow “sorry” with “But.”
• Forgive others just as you wish to be forgiven.

I’m sure I’m missing some, and I welcome your suggestions.

Lessons aren’t learned after Orinda teen dies

Posted on 23. Nov, 2009 by kchristieh in parenting

Did you know that if there’s underage drinking at your house, you’re liable even if you don’t know about it or aren’t home? And that if the kids paid to attend the party, you’re in even more trouble?

Those were some of the points brought up by Will Moffitt at our September PTSA meeting, and those points are driven home in the lead article in today’s LA Times article, “A teen party, a mysterious death — and a town’s unanswered grief,” about a teen boy in Orinda who died after drinking beer at a party he paid to attend at a home where the parents weren’t present. It’s a very sad story, and could easily happen in our fair city. My heart goes out to everyone involved.

Two points in the article particularly struck me. The first was this paragraph:

Giving underage drinkers immunity from prosecution for calling 911 might encourage them to summon help, Klingman said. Many colleges and at least two states, Colorado and New Jersey, provide immunity as a way to prevent alcohol-related deaths.

I LOVE this idea. Kids see all sorts of dangerous things, but are often afraid to tell because they don’t want to get in trouble or be branded as “tattletales.” Take away the disincentives. If something dangerous is happening, they shouldn’t be afraid to seek help.

The second was this statement by the Orinda Chief of Police:

“Apparently someone dying at a party has not affected their partying,” he said. But he added that some teens do go to parties and abstain. The answer may lie in finding out why, he said.

It’s sad that this hasn’t affected teen partying practices. If it had, at least some good would have come of this tragedy, much like it did when Crescenta Valley high school formed its Prom Plus event after one of their students was shot.

I was particularly intrigued by the second part of his statement, where he thinks the answer to changing the partying culture may be found by figuring out why some teens who attend parties choose to abstain. It’s like studying someone with the HIV virus who doesn’t get AIDS: find out what makes them immune to it, and see if you can replicate it in others.

Has anyone ever tried this? Lately? Here?

15 Life Lessons I Learned From My Dog

Posted on 16. Sep, 2009 by kchristieh in animals, my life

When my sweet dog Genevieve died just over a year ago, I cried for days. Ever since we’d adopted her over 11 years before, she’d been my constant companion. She was rarely more than five feet from my side, and she was my office mate who sat on the couch as I did all the work. She lived a good, long life – perhaps 16.5 years – but in the end an enlarged heart did her in. It was only fitting, because she captured everyone’s heart.

We honored Genevieve and the place she had in our hearts by adopting another dog within eight days. As I look back on it, I can’t believe we adopted another dog so quickly, but Genevieve left a big hole, and I wanted to try to fill it quickly. I went to five local animal shelters, and at each one I asked them to show me their friendliest small dog. Some of the dogs they showed me didn’t show much interest in being social, and at other shelters the workers and volunteers had so many animals on hand that they didn’t know enough about them to help me. Finally, at the San Gabriel Valley Humane Society, several workers independently pointed to an adorable little guy whom I’d passed by the first time I saw him. They were right: he’s a love sponge, and a year ago today we brought him home with us. We named him Ricky, and he’s brought great joy to our family and to all who have met him. He’ll never replace Genevieve, but he honors her by filling in his own way the role that she played in our family.

Here’s what Ricky’s taught me in the last year:

1. Life goes on. I miss Genevieve dearly, but Ricky has helped me to focus on the present, not on the past.
2. Don’t judge someone by their looks. I thought I’d wind up adopting another terrier, but I’m very happy we brought Ricky home instead. I don’t know what breeds are mixed in him, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is what’s on the inside.
3. If you show love, you’ll get love. I’ve never known a dog who licked as much as Ricky does. It makes you want to pet him all the time.
4. If you ask for love, you’ll get love. Ricky loves to lie on his back, look at us with pathetic eyes, and shake his legs until he gets a belly rub. He’s irresistible.
5. Be persistent. The more you chew on that toy, the more likely you’ll be to break it down. Also, see #4.
6. Everyone is a potential friend. Keep trying.
7. Lead a balanced life. There’s a time for belly rubs, a time for chasing squirrels, and a time for sleeping in the sun. All are important.
8. Life is a journey: enjoy the ride. Ricky loves to go for car rides, and gets upset when I don’t bring him along.
9. Express yourself. If you’re bugged by the fact that someone dares to walk on the sidewalk across the street, bark and let them know it.
10. Be true to yourself. Just because the neighbor dogs like to swim doesn’t mean you have to.
11. Appreciate the blessings of life. Anything beats being in a cage at the Humane Society for a month and a half.
12. Live each moment to the fullest. One of my greatest joys is seeing the extra-high leap that Ricky loves to take when he jumps up the stairs after playing in the backyard.
13. Being small has its advantages. If he weren’t so small, Ricky wouldn’t fit on my lap or under the bed.
14. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to have fun. Even an old sock can provide great enjoyment.
15. Seize the opportunity when it’s available. As soon as the bedroom door opens, rush in to grab any socks that may be on the floor. (see #14)

Ricky is like a 9-year-old boy. He’s bright, sweet, energetic and playful all at once. He makes life exciting and rewarding, and we’re blessed to have him in our lives.

I wish Genevieve could meet him.

When life stinks, here’s a reminder that it could be worse

Posted on 17. Mar, 2009 by kchristieh in cool websites, life lessons

Just as there’s always someone prettier, smarter and richer than us, there are also people who don’t have it as good as we do.

When you’re feeling low, visit F*** My Life: Your everyday life stories. People enter their tales of woe, and others vote on whether the person’s life stinks or whether they got what they deserved. Here are a few recent examples:

• Today, I decided to ask my friend to the school dance. It’s one where the girls ask the guys. I spent hours placing signs down his street so he would see them on his way home. As I’m waiting in his driveway with balloons I see his car reverse and go the other direction. FML
  #415998 (83) – 03/17/2009 at 4:44pm by SmileEveryday – misc – I agree, your life is f***ed (19782) – you deserved that one (3262
• Today, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I called all my family members to invite them over this evening because I had some very important news for them that could not wait. They all declined the invite. When I asked why, they said they were going to my cousins to watch his new TV. FML
  #406352 (106) – 03/17/2009 at 1:47am by Mikey – health – I agree, your life is f***ed (44821) – you deserved that one (1066)
• Today, I found an old dress in my house laying around. I decided to dye it green to wear it out on St. Patrick’s day. Turns out it was my grandmother’s wedding dress that my sister was planning to wear for her wedding. FML
  #379533 (106) – 03/16/2009 at 1:29pm by Noname – misc – I agree, your life is f***ed (8120) – you deserved that one (47295)

I don’t wish these things on anyone, but it can be therapeutic to read them. I learned about this from my teenagers, who promise they skip over the skankier ones. Though I have to admit, even the skankier ones mostly wind up warning people from doing those skanky things.

Every driver needs this in their car in case of an accident

Posted on 26. Feb, 2009 by kchristieh in life lessons, my life, parenting, shopping

Every driver needs a in their car. Period. This compact zippered case holds insurance and DMV information, a disposable camera, a pen, a clipboard and a checklist that details what to do in case of an accident.

I purchased one for my daughter last summer when she got her first car. I am so glad I did, for this evening she was in an accident and says that having this kit allowed her to stay focused and do what needed to be done.

Thank God she’s alright. That’s by far what’s most important. I partially credit this kit for keeping her ok after the accident, because she was able to maintain her wits about her and drive home. If she’d been too flustered trying to figure out what to do, she might not have been able to do that.

By the way, I bought a kit for myself last summer. Having everything in one place keeps my glove compartment more organized, and now it gives me a little more peace of mind that this truly does help in an emergency.

I purchased my kit at The Container Store, but I’ve also seen them at Target. You can also purchase them from several vendors on and other online stores. It might be the best $14.95 you ever spend.

Before you eat that, read this

Posted on 10. Feb, 2008 by kchristieh in food, health, life lessons

Whenever I’m getting lax about what I eat, and start gaining weight back, I should read Gary Taubes’ PBS interview. Taubes, the author of “,” explains why a lower carbohydrate diet is healthier and more effective for weight loss than a low fat diet. If that’s not enough, read Taubes’ 2002 NY Times article, “What if It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?”

It worked for him, and it worked for me. I just need to be reminded why every once in awhile.

I’d like to wrap the world in bubble wrap

Posted on 01. Feb, 2008 by kchristieh in life lessons, my life, parenting, religion

Sometimes I feel like Rat does in this Pearls Before Swine cartoon:

Each time my son’s broken his arm, I’ve wished he’d been wrapped in bubble wrap. When my daughter got her learner’s permit, I wished the whole car was wrapped in it.

Life’s not like that, however. We need to be able to admit that we can’t control everything in our lives, and that bad things will happen. I still wish they didn’t, of course. But if I don’t cede control, I’ll die of stress.

Maybe we all need to be like Pig, and make the best of things.

I feel like I’m writing the !

50 Things You Need to Know by 50

Posted on 08. Jun, 2007 by kchristieh in articles, life lessons, parenting

I’m not nearly 50 yet, but I think most of the tips on AARP’s list of the 50 Things You Need to Know by 50 apply to any age. Here are a few of my favorites:

• 2. How to Forgive
  (George Takei, Star Trek, Heroes)
  I grew up in U.S. internment camps during World War II. We were surrounded by barbed wire fences and machine guns. We took communal showers and meals, and a searchlight followed us on night runs to the latrine. After the war my mother and father couldn’t find housing, and I had a teacher who called me “little Jap boy.” That stung. But my parents taught me that being bitter only pickles the one that stews in the brine. Good advice. The bullies were the ones stewing in their own spite and ignorance. Once you realize that those who hurt you also hurt themselves, it is easier to forgive them. And that’s liberating.
• 26. Raise Teenagers
  (Henry Winkler, father of three)
  You know what I learned to do? I learned to shut up. I used to talk so much, thinking I was passing on these important lessons. I’d tell my son Max, “Sit down at your desk. You can’t stand and do homework. You can’t lie on your bed and do homework. You can’t listen to music and do homework.” But when I calmed down, the grades were there. He was standing at his desk, he was lying on his bed, he was listening to music, and he was thriving. I’d been giving him advice I’d heard all my life, but it turned out not to be true.
• 32. Don’t try to talk like a teen. By the time you understand their lingo, it won’t be cool anymore.
• 43. Make Friends Offer to drive people to the airport.

Is there a list of 16 Things You Need to Know by 16? I wish I had that for my kids.

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Surefire Ways to Spot a Liar

Posted on 23. May, 2007 by kchristieh in articles, life lessons

I think I can usually detect when a person’s lying. Unfortunately, I don’t always know why I think they’re lying, and I usually don’t have proof that they are.

Here’s a recap from Reader’s Digest to help you determine when someone is lying. Some of it’s surprising, but most isn’t. Now, maybe my brain will be able to process what my intuition is telling it.

Hear the Voices: Look for changes in pitch, breath rate, and speed. Hesitation can often indicate lying.

Watch Those Words: Liars often use fewer first-person pronouns such as I and me. It’s a way for them to put separate themselves from their stories. For example, a liar would be more likely to say, “The check will be sent tomorrow,” instead of “I’ll send the check tomorrow.” Liars also use fewer exclusionary words such as but, nor, except, and whereas. Researchers say this is because they’re spending enough energy concentrating on the lie, and can’t also perform complex thinking.

Look Past Shifty Eyes to Body Language: Look at the whole body, in context. If someone looks away while concentrating, that’s ok, but if they look away when the answer should be easy, that’s bad. Also, look for changes in baseline behavior, for example talking too much or too little compared to usual, or a change in body posture or hand usage.

Check for Emotional Leaks: “Micro-expressions” can leak through, often lasting only a split second. Perhaps an odd smile, not a happy smile. These are hard to spot, even by pros.

Now to figure out how to deal with liars and prove they’re wrong!

Heart attack symptoms

Posted on 28. Mar, 2007 by kchristieh in feminism, health, life lessons

If I don’t post this, I’ll feel incredibly guilty if anyone reading this blog dies unnecessarily of a heart attack, especially after the previous post:

As the American Heart Association notes:

“As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and back or jaw pain.” Source

A woman should have…

Posted on 27. Mar, 2007 by kchristieh in feminism, life lessons

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE …. 
     enough money within her control to move out 
     and rent a place of her own even if she never wants 
     to or needs to… 
 
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE …. 
     something perfect to wear if the employer or 
     date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour… 
 
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE … 
     a youth she’s content to leave behind…. 

(more…)

10 Paradoxical Commandments

Posted on 21. Mar, 2007 by kchristieh in life lessons, religion

Here’s a modern take on the 10 Commandments:

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
   Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
   Do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
   Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
   Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
   Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
   Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
   Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
   Build anyway.
9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
   Help people anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
    Give the world the best you have anyway.

I think they all boil down to two commandments:

1. Love your neighbor.
2. Do your best.

Not so hard to remember, but much tougher to follow.

Source: http://www.paradoxicalcommandments.com/

The Overachievers

Posted on 01. Feb, 2007 by kchristieh in books, education, life lessons, parenting

Our book group met for the second time today, and we discussed The Overachievers by Alexandra Robbins. Here’s how Amazon describes it:

In this engrossing anthropological study of the cult of overachieving that is prevalent in many middle- and upper-class schools, Robbins (Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities) follows the lives of students from a Bethesda, Md., high school as they navigate the SAT and college application process. These students are obsessed with success, contending with illness, physical deterioration (senior Julie is losing hair over the pressure to get into Stanford), cheating (students sell a physics project to one another), obsessed parents (Frank’s mother manages his time to the point of abuse) and emotional breakdowns. What matters to them is that all-important acceptance to the right name-brand school. “When teenagers inevitably look at themselves through the prism of our overachiever culture,” Robbins writes, “they often come to the conclusion that no matter how much they achieve, it will never be enough.”

I wish the book wasn’t called “The Overachievers.” Several people I talked to said they didn’t feel it was relevant to them since they don’t consider their child an overachiever. But Robbins’ book doesn’t just focus on top students: it also focuses on the effect that excessive expectations to succeed can have on students. The most easily visible measure of success for many is what college they get into, so it’s not surprising that many of the students and their parents in the book obsess about this.

This was good for me to read this week as my children took finals. I kept telling them that I was impressed that they were working hard and yet finding balance in their lives, and that that was more important than the final grade. Besides learning from the mistakes of others in the book, I also appreciated the candid portrait of what modern suburban high school life can be like.

My daughter read this last summer before she entered high school, and learned many different lessons from it. The obvious lesson is that you can knock yourself out to the point of exhaustion, and still not get into a top school. On the other hand, she also saw how hard some kids work, and that if she does have high goals for herself, she’ll have to work hard for them.

I’ll try to get my son to read it before he enters high school. It’ll be interesting to see what he gleans from it.

You Might Help a Teen Avoid Dumb Behavior By Nurturing Intuition

Posted on 03. Nov, 2006 by kchristieh in articles, education, parenting

The standard way to convince kids not to do something dangerous is to educate them about the risks involved. So, if you don’t want them to drink, you tell them about all the reasons they shouldn’t.

That works for some kids, but not for others. While they might understand the risks, and in some cases even overestimate them, they still engage in the risky behavior. Why is that?

Today’s Wall St. Journal article, “You Might Help a Teen Avoid Dumb Behavior By Nurturing Intuition“, says that

Teens tend to underestimate the bad consequences of risky behavior. They think, yeah, smoking will give me cancer (only 18% of teen smokers deny that most lifelong smokers die of a smoking-related disease), or unprotected sex will give me a sexually transmitted disease. But how bad can that be — especially compared with the benefits of smoking or sex?

Social acceptance and the allure of rebellion right now outweigh the costs later. (Even adults, not to mention financiers, prefer immediate benefits to future ones.) Teaching teens to assess risks accurately won’t decrease stupid behavior — they’re already pretty accurate at gauging the consequences. They just aren’t much bothered by them. No wonder three million new cases of STDs are diagnosed in U.S. adolescents each year.

Young people are especially bad at resisting risk when they’re with peers and when they make decisions on the spur of the moment. In these cases, the emotional brain hijacks the logical one, so knowing the numerical risk of driving drunk won’t stop them. That information is suppressed.

So what can we do? Throw up our hands and hope for the best?

Mature adults manage to avoid risky behavior not because they’re better at conscious deliberation, the scientists say, but because they intuitively grasp dangers. They go with their gut. “As a result of knowledge, experience and insight, they grasp the essence, the gist, of a situation,” says Prof. Reyna. “They don’t stop and deliberate on the costs and benefits of risky behaviors.”

Getting young people to do the same thing arguably holds more promise than improving their powers of deliberation. For one thing, that is limited by the fact that, until your mid-20s, the brain’s frontal lobes are still maturing. Regions responsible for curbing impulsivity, thinking ahead and making sound decisions aren’t necessarily up to the job. But grasping the gist is something even 18-year-olds can manage.

“Deliberately weighing costs and benefits often encourages risky behavior,” says Prof. Reyna. “You have a better chance if you get teens to pick up, unconsciously, that a behavior is dangerous and intuitively avoid it.”

She and colleagues are doing that in a continuing study of 800 teens. Through emotion-packed films and novels, they drum into kids’ heads positive images of healthy behaviors and negative images of risky behavior (a benign version of how the doctors in “A Clockwork Orange” pair violent images with nausea). The idea is to make the thought of risky behavior reflexively trigger a no-go decision. All the evidence, as opposed to folk wisdom, says this is more likely to work than current tactics.

That’s a big argument in favor of monitoring children’s and teen’s media usage, but that’s no news to me. I’ve always said that the more you see something in a positive light, the more likely you are to think it’s ok. The more movies a kid sees with sex and drinking, the more likely they are to think it’s fine.

I try to be careful with what my kids see, but lots still sneaks in. It’s not just movies and tv – it’s billboards, books, magazines, newspapers, peer groups and more.

Sigh. All we can do is try. And, model the good behavior ourselves.

Life Lessons #1: Read the written directions

Posted on 02. Jul, 2006 by kchristieh in life lessons

Here’s the first in what may turn into a regular segment from me: Life Lessons. Learn from my mistakes, lest you be forced to repeat them yourselves.

Today’s lesson:

Don’t completely rely upon the Google/Yahoo/Mapquest map. Read the written directions from the coach/team manager/host before you hit the road.

I printed out the Google map of where my son’s baseball tournament in Castaic was yesterday, and noted that I needed to get off at Ridge Rd. I finally passed the last exit before the mountains and had my son look at the email from the coach, only to discover that the exit was called Parker Road, even though there was no Parker Road at the off-ramp. So we headed up the Grapevine towards Gorman, and are forever grateful for the tiny Templin Highway exit, where we were able to turn around and head back south. We were going to be early to the pre-game practice…but wound up 25 minutes late, though still before the game. Thankfully, the coaches are cool, and didn’t dock my son for it.