Some Things I've (re)Learned Lately

There's no story here, nothing to deduce. I've just been learning a lot of little lessons lately, and thought I'd collect them:

• It's nice to have friends. I have had moments where I've thought that it's so hard for me to be a decent friend I should just give up. But lately some kind people have encouraged me to keep on trying. And I'm glad.
• It's really wonderful to have people at work listen to you and act on what you say, especially if you have to work very hard to convince them. Especially especially if you're low on the totem pole and the people you're trying to convince are doctors and administrators. Maybe "leading from where you are" is possible, after all.
• It's not a parent's job to make sure her children are happy. In fact, sometimes, the only right thing she can do is to create a situation in which her children are unhappy. The ultimate goal is to set conditions for them in which they can make themselves happy.
• My thighs get bigger when I run more.
• Shoes smell BAD when you run in them too many days in a row. Alarmingly bad.
• The moon is most beautiful in the winter.
• Money actually can solve some problems. Not the most important problems, but a good chunk of your garden variety problems.
• There is nothing fair or reasonable about a gravely ill child, and we mortals are never in a position to judge the parents of same.
• Poetry isn't as bad as I used to think it was.
• I really do like math. It just has to be taught well, and applied interestingly.
• My husband is a saint.
• Children like to know where the boundaries are. In fact, I think all of us like that.
• There is a lot of merit to organized sports for children. I've swung like a wild pendulum on this. I'm back to my original opinion. There's a lot of abuse of the ideas behind organized sports, but in their purest form, with good coaches and supportive parents, they're the greatest thing since sliced bread.
• I miss traveling when I'm home and miss home when I'm traveling.
• I still don't feel sorry for chickens, but I'm pretty convinced about mammals, and don't eat 'em anymore. Except for that bit of Joe's hamburger the other day. But it was going in the trash, so it didn't really count.

Now that I've looked that over, it reads like the 16/25 Random Things meme...I didn't mean for that to happen.