There Were Lessons Learned

There's some things that I regret,

Some words I wish had gone unsaid,

Some starts,

That had some bitter endings,

Been some bad times I've been through,

Damage I cannot undo,

Some things,

I wish I could do all all over again,

But it don't really matter,

Life gets that much harder,

It makes you that much stronger,

Oh, some pages turned,

Some bridges burned,

But there were,

Lessons learned.

[Chorus:]

And every tear that had to fall from my eyes,

Everyday I wondered how I'd get through the night,

Every change, life has thrown me,

I'm thankful, for every break in my heart,

I'm grateful, for every scar,

Some pages turned,

Some bridges burned,

But there were lessons learned.

There's mistakes that I have made,

Some chances I just threw away,

Some roads,

I never should've taken,

Been some signs I didn't see,

Hearts that I hurt needlessly,

Some wounds,

That I wish I could have one more chance to mend,

But it don't make no difference,

The past can't be rewritten,

You get the life you're given,

Oh, some pages turned,

Some bridges burned,

But there were,

Lessons learned.

[Chorus:]

And all the things that break you,

Are all the things that make you strong,

You can't change the past,

Cause it's gone,

And you just gotta move on,

Because it's all,

Lessons learned.

[Chorus:]

Lessons Learned by Carrie Underwood

The first time I heard this song I thought it was perfect the words just spoke to me. We are constantly learning things from our parents telling us what to do when we are young, to teachers at school, to bosses in the adult world. We start off with the basics of our parents teaching us not to touch something and us not listening and we get hurt...lesson learned. Then we move on to our parents telling us that we need to be nice and play nice with the other children, and we don't listen and the kid we really like doesn't want to be our friend anymore because we were mean...lesson learned. Then it is off to school where we learn all kinds of lessons from if you don't behave we will call your mother to if you don't do your homework you won't pass, but we don't listen and then when we get in trouble we realize we should have listened...lesson learned. This is pretty much how I learn, I wasn't a bad child but I seem to be a bit slow on the learning side of things. You could tell me and even if I listened I didn't really learn the lesson until I had done it and then I usually heard loud and clear, and of course it was too late now because the damage was done.

As this song says there are things I regret, some things I wish I could do all over again but I think the best part of the whole song is that no matter what you did there were lessons learned. And I have learnt some valuable lessons over the years and here are five of them...

1) Children are only children for a little while. I divorced my husband and he ended up with the kids (long story) and I went for 9 years were I hardly saw them. I have been with them every day now for the past 4 years but I lost a lot of things. My baby girl was 2 when we divorced and 11 when we got back together, I had missed so much of her life and that was something I could never get back. So many of us seem to forget that the children grow up...I have 18 years right? Well you have no idea how fast 18 years can go by. My son is now almost 19, going to be moving away at the end of the summer and I have no more chance with him. Yes I will always be his mother, but being the mother to an adult is so different than a child, we will have so much less time together. So hold your children tight while you can because before you know it they will be off to the world of school and friends and cuddling with you will be a distant memory.

2) People never say what they honestly think. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. I ask someone 'what do you think of this outfit' and they tell me what they think I want to hear...so I get 'that looks great', so I buy it and go to the party for people to be snickering behind my back about my outfit...if that first person had been honest they would have saved me from this embarassment. Honesty is the best policy, now that doesn't mean be rude. You can tell someone I don't think you look good in that without saying 'hell no that makes your a@@ look huge'. I think we have become a people pleasing society and we forget to tell people the truth...sometimes it is okay to let someone down easy as long as you are nice about it and chances are you could be saving them a bigger heart ache later.

3) Most people are in the situation they are in because they choose to be. They may not have choosen to be there in the first place but they choose to remain there. Some people stay because they are scared to leave, or because it is easier to stay than to find somewhere else to be. I am not saying that people deserve to be in these situations but they are usually there by choice. I was in an abusive relationship and I stayed, not because I was afraid what he would do if I left but because I was afraid of being on my own. I told myself that it was easier to stay with him and let him abuse me than to have to be alone...I was wrong but I choose to stay, and I think that this is the case for most people.

4) Children will never listen to the advice of their parents, they have to learn the hard way by themselves. I would never listen to my parents, and then after I said I made a bad choice they would say I told you that before but you wouldn't listen. Now my children are teenagers doing the same things and no matter what I tell them they do it themselves to find out I was right. Everyone has to learn their own lessons they can't be told by someone else.

5) The only love that will last forever is the love of your mother. Every mother has a different way of showing their love, some are great at it and other's not so good (and yes there are those that shouldn't be mothers) but no matter what you do, or how far away you go your mother will still love you.

So remember no matter what you do with your life as long as you learn something from it, then it wasn't wrong :)