Ten things I've learned ... trite, but true.

 [This is the inspiration for this post.  She did a much better job than I did.]

In Night Watch,  Sam Vimes observe that it wasn't that he wished he knew then what he knows now, more that he wishes he didn't know now what he didn't know then.

Amen.

But just as you learn the things you don't want to know, you also learn other, more lasting lessons. You learn...

That no one is perfect.  That you can never figure out what a perfect person would be anyway, and that a person's flaws sometimes make them more interesting than their virtues. And that sometimes what you think is a flaw isn't.

That sometimes the people you love will do stupid things.  That they will hurt themselves and others.  And that loving people does not always mean protecting them from themselves.  Sometimes the best thing  for you to do is be there to help them pick up the pieces, not keep them from falling in the first place.

That the people in your life who love you enough let you fail often love you enough to let you succeed on your own terms.

That it takes only a moment's inattention for disaster to strike.  And that you, being human, will sometimes have those moments of inattention, and the results may be catastrophic. You will learn to forgive yourself for not being God, and immune to horrible things happening to you.

That there may people inextricably bound to your life who believe vile things.   Things which make you angry, and sometimes make you want to weep. You may learn to love them anyway, for the things that they believe that are good, and the hope that someday they will learn better.

That the destination does not always live up to the hype. You learn how important it is to appreciate the journey.

That you are never as smart as you thought you were at twenty-five.  Or thirty.  And that you really never were that smart to begin with. But realizing you're not that smart makes the world a much more comfortable place to live in.

That life is rarely simple, and never easy.  Those who tell you otherwise are lying -- either to  themselves or to you. But the fact that life is never simple will make it more interesting, even as it makes it harder. 

That almost the only things in life that are black and white are zebras and crosswalks.

And, finally...

That love in and of itself is not enough.  But it is necessary.