Pam's Real World Wisdom

Every day I meet amazing people because of LifeBio. Pam Hamburg-Robbins recently won our Name That Cat Contest. As a result, I got a chance to speak with her by phone. What an amazing woman. She's had her share of tragedies in life, but keeps a "glass is half full" attitude and appreciates every day of life.

Here how she answers a few of LifeBio's life story questions....this is "real world" wisdom.

By Pam Hamburg-Robbins

• What has life taught you?
  
  Life is still teaching me so many things! So far, I have learned to:
  
  - Believe only half of what you see and nothing of what you hear. Find out both sides.
  - Do not trust coworkers. They are your coworkers, not your friends.
  - Blood is not necessarily thicker than water. We all start with a biological family. This changes over the years. We leave our biological families as we grow up; sometimes we begin shedding them for various reasons and adopt new family by way of friends, marriage, etc.
  - Life truly is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. Nothing is forever and life can toss those curveballs relentlessly sometimes. Learn to roll with it.
  - While saving money is crucial to our futures, so is spending what one can afford without going into terrible debt. Don’t be a miser; you cannot take it with you.
  - Experience life to its fullest. One never knows when one’s life will end.
  
  As I said, I am still learning every single day. I pray a lot along the way. I feel that I have my Master’s in life, but I’m still working on the Ph.D.
  
  It’s been said, “The best things in life are free.” Is this true?
  
  I’d have to say that this is true for the most part. “Free” things to me are a sunny, warm day and being outside to enjoy it while doing or not doing anything at all, my son’s beautiful smile and when he gives me a back scratch, my pets’ unconditional love (as long as I feed them, heh-heh), my husband’s appreciation of a good meal (yep, the way to a man’s heart is partly through his tummy), satisfaction in knowing I performed a job well, the immediate gratification of washing a car or some other physical, mindless task, praying anywhere I want to….oh, I could go on with this one for a long time!
  
  What are some of the things you learned from your children?
  
  They have taught me so many wonderful, valuable things. Sometimes I think they’ve taught me much more than I’ve taught them. They taught me what unconditional love is. How even though I’m an adult I still have to feed the little child inside that still wants to play…play is healthy. Having kids is great because when I’m out with my son, I can do fun stuff and no one thinks anything of it because I have my kid with me! My late daughter taught me how short life can be, but no matter how short that life, it had extreme value. She taught me that love is all there is. Both my kids have taught me to never read the label! Under each “book’s” cover can be a worthwhile person. There are so many “books” and so little time! Let the house/yard work go and enjoy your family. This takes work, believe me. Try to ignore the “I should be….”
  
  I’ve wanted to write all my life; I’ve always enjoyed it, from the time I first learned to read (first grade, imagine that!). But it never seemed to be the right time, whatever that is. Not to mention the fact that I don’t have an ending yet! I feel that I ought to get started, though, so I can finish what there is. Guess I’ll maybe have to wait for the ending to occur or have someone else write it when it occurs.
  
  I only wish I could do this full-time. But I have to work to keep health insurance on my son and myself (we both have pre-existing conditions) and the money is only secondary thanks to my late husband. At least for the time being. Give me another two, three years and I will be out of my government job, yippeeeeee! And I will finally have the time to do exactly as I please. I’ve always said that work interferes with my real life!