Last week, two of my high school classmates passed away in completely unrelated circumstances. I was never more than an acquaintance of either woman, but their deaths affected me deeply.

They made me think about my own mortality.

Even though I’ve been known to say “I’m so old,” I really don’t feel old. In fact, on most days I forget that I’m even an adult. My friends and colleagues can certainly testify that I frequently forget to act like an adult.

But when two people from my graduating class died within days? That not only made me question what I’ve actually done with my life, it also made me reflect on everything I still want to do. In all honesty, it made me wonder about my legacy.

Amid those thoughts, I considered how much I’ve changed since high school, how much I haven’t changed, and all of the lessons I’ve learned along the way. And I realized that aging shouldn’t be measured by the crow’s feet around my eyes or the laugh lines around my mouth. Instead, it should be measured by all the nuggets of truth I’ve picked up among the successes, mistakes, joys, heartaches, worries and moments of peace I’ve experienced on this bumpy road called life.

I’ve had 52 years to accumulate these little life lessons, so it seems appropriate that I share one lesson for every year of that journey:

1. Be a goofball. Life is so much more bearable when you find ways to be a goofball.
2. If a situation or person makes you uncomfortable, don’t hesitate to walk away. There’s a reason your’re uncomfortable.
3. If something reminds you of song, then start singing it out loud . . . unless you are at a funeral. Then just sing silently or people will give you angry looks.
4. Speaking of funerals, always act as though you recognize the person in the coffin. If you don’t, never yell out loud that you are in the wrong place. You probably aren’t. The person in the coffin just doesn’t look like the person you knew because of the makeup or clothes or hair. Or all of the above. After yelling you are in the wrong place, you will immediately realize that you are in the right place because people you know will check to see if you are all right.
5.  Never hesitate to tell someone that you love them. Unless you don’t love them. Then you should hesitate.
6.  Spend time with people who are younger than you.
7.  Spend time with people who are older than you.
8. No matter what the weather is, spend at least 30 minutes outside every day. Extreme cold, extreme heat, wind, rain and snow will do more for your soul than staying cooped up inside every will.
9. Comparing yourself to other people will never make you a better person no matter how hard you try to be as good or as strong or as smart or as successful or as talented or as skinny or as pretty. You are disrespecting your own unique traits, and are just making yourself miserable.
10. Not everyone you meet is going to like you. Why would they? You certainly don’t like everyone you meet.
11. If you want unconditional love, get a dog. No human will ever give you the unconditional love that a dog does.
12. At least once a year, spend time lying on your back looking up at the clouds. You’ll always see something  interesting. When you get older, you might see some floaters against the blue sky, but you should ignore them. The shapes you should pay attention to are the ones in the clouds.
13. Trying to be perfect only annoys other people. Instead, be genuine. The only people who are annoyed by genuine people are fake people. And who cares what they think?
14. Always keep at least one toy in your office. If you can’t play at work, you should find another job.
15. Never be ashamed of your opinion. However, make sure you don’t confuse opinions with facts.
16. If you are in an accident, your underwear is the least of your worries. Medics and health care professionals don’t care if your underwear is clean or in perfect condition. After you’ve been in accident, your underwear is probably neither anyway.
17. Vote in every single election.
18. Never pretend to like music or movies for the sake of someone else.
19. Don’t listen to advice from people who say you should eat your dessert first. Trust me. Eat your vegetables first.
20. Don’t let you cat pee in the dryer vent. I say this, but I have no earthly clue how to actually achieve this. If someone knows how to prevent your cat from peeing in the dryer vent, please share it with ever cat owner you know. They will be forever appreciative.
21. Become a student of history. Read books or newspaper articles. Listen to podcasts. Watch documentaries. There is so much truth in the quote “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.’
22. Do your best to remember people’s names and something that is important to them. Don’t do this for their sake. Do it for yours.
23. Get a little bit of exercise every day.
24. Admit your mistakes. Always admit your mistakes.
25. Get a copy of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder). Seriously. Every day you are going to have to deal with irrational people whom you don’t understand. If you have a copy of the DSM,  at least you can try to figure out what is wrong with them. You might not be able to actually to that, but going through the DSM will keep you so busy that you’ll be less irritated.
26. Find those friends with whom you can bitch about other people. I know this doesn’t sound kind, but let’s face it, we are all human and other people annoy us. Find those friends who are annoyed by the same people and keep them on speed dial. It can save your sanity.
27. Visit the world’s churches and cathedrals just to enjoy the architecture and the sense of serenity.
28. Recognize that money will never buy happiness but using your money to help others will make you feel happy.
29. Spend more time listening to music and reading than watching television.
30. Learn to forgive. Forgiving is so much better for your mental health than holding a grudge.
31. Forgiving someone doesn’t mean you forget. There are some people who are better just not being in your life, and you have the right to make that choice.
32. It’s just as important to forgive yourself as it is to forgive other people. But since you can’t walk away from yourself, you have to make a conscious decision to learn from your mistakes.
33. Medication can help with anxiety and depression, but so can gardening. When life is tough, plant flowers, Get dirt under your fingernails. There is nothing like the feeling of satisfaction of getting all of the dirt out from under your fingernails after a day of gardening.
34. Buy and wear colorful clothes. Most of us went through a black clothes phase at some point. Despite what we thought at the time, there is nothing interesting about black clothes.
35. Carry an interesting purse. It’s the best conversation starter ever.
36. Always wear a bra when you leave the house. Always. Even if you are wearing a t-shirt, a sweatshirt and a coat to walk the dog. You might think there is no reason to wear a bra, but something might  happen. For example, you might fall down, shatter your wrist, and end up in the emergency room.
37. Trust your gut more than the advice of other people.
38. Never, ever accept credit for someone else’s ideas or work.
39. Always wear your lightest clothes to the doctor’s office and remove all jewelry before being weighed. If you are going to the doctor’s in the winter, wear shorts and pretend you just worked out.
40. Find your passion and you’ll find your tribe.
41. Don’t regret your past. If it wasn’t your past, you wouldn’t be the person you are now.
42. Don’t accept anything at face value.
43. Give compliments. Just make sure they are genuine.
44. Never strive to be the most important person in the room. Strive to be the most understanding.
45. Spend some time with trees. Seriously. The energy and vibes you can get from trees are amazing.
46. Feed stray animals. If your neighbors complain, lie.
47. Sometimes you have to lie to keep the peace, but never tell a lie that could hurt someone.
48. Learn to master the eye roll. Then keep sunglasses handy.
49. Always remember that no matter how much you want other people to understand your point of view, they are hearing it from their point of view. That means words you didn’t intend to be hurtful can be hurtful anyway and statements you make as explanations can be taken as accusations. Knowing this doesn’t fix anything, but it does provide perspective.
50. Spend less time trying to figure out someone else’s motives and more time ensuring sure your own motives are good.
51. Find and keep friends who can cook.
52. Remember life is like a satisfying bike ride. Sometimes you’ve been going uphill for so long that you are exhausted and feel as though the climb will never end. And just when you think you can’t go on, you reach the top. Then you can relax into the joy and exhilaration of going downhill. Sometimes your are just riding on flat surface maintaining. And every time you ride, you get stronger and learn another technique to make you a better cyclist.  All of those struggles and joys become memories, and the string of memories each of us creates becomes our legacy.