Buying a Puppy Taught Me Everything I Need To Know

I think that I am wiser today than I was yesterday. Eventually some of the knowledge I bump across, sinks in. Slowly, sometimes. In spurts, during other seasons of my life. Much wisdom, apparently falls off like water on a duck. Some absorbs, as if by osmosis. Being around folks better than I, helps on the osmosis side. One of my greatest spurts came at an unexpected time. My "Coming of Age" summer could have gone a few different directions. I was turning 13 and the hormones were having one of their growth spurts. It was all new and exciting. My life had been struck by tragedy just a year earlier but I was starting to find my footing. Being the youngest, smartest and smallest kid in class, had some advantages and disadvantages. So far, mostly disadvantages. But mom always said I would mature, like a fine aged wine. Whatever that means. I could feel it building. My time is coming. Soon. I learned so much more than I expected that summer. Things I didn't know that I didn't know. It was the turning point of my life and I am eternally grateful, for my experiences during that summer, of the 13th birthday.