“I’m not a fool, and I’m not a scientist…..but I know some things.”

If that line seems familiar, it’s because you heard it in one of my favorite films, Jumping The Broom, or you read it from the front of my blog page. Either way, the phrase is one of my favorites and summarizes where I am about life and the lessons I’ve learned.

As an avid reader and people-watcher, I constantly absorb words and wisdom from others: some are useful, some are painful, and some are revelatory in ways that positively influence my path and help me to better navigate my journey as a daughter, mother, citizen, friend and wife. No one likes getting older per se, but if we’re doing it right, wisdom accompanies the aging process and we can impart our lessons to those around us and apply them for the benefit of all. So, for my part, I just wanted to share some of the truths I’ve learned, years ago or as recently as this week, that I would say, like the mighty Oprah Winfrey does, “I know for sure”:

1. Life is full of shifting alliances and awkward agendas: what definitely exists today could be a memory tomorrow. All we can do is figure out where the middle ground is, if one exists, and work to it from there.

2. It’s a bittersweet adjustment when children become young adults. Darius’ moving in with Dad will never change his status as Big Bro and No. 1 Son, but watching him become a man from a distance, while pride-inducing, will take some getting used to.

3. If I don’t make that left turn out of the school and head to the gym first thing after the morning school drop-off, exercising is just not going to happen. Sorry.

4. My ‘Yankee’ accent and insistence on salt over sugar in my grits will always identify me as a transplanted Texan.

5. As we all witnessed on Monday night, shouting insults and unchecked bravado might get you cool points in a rap battle, but during a presidential debate? Not so much.

6. Speaking of rappers, anyone emerging after Lupe Fiasco is, for this back-in-the-day fan, speaking a foreign language. I recognize the newbies more from film roles than their rhyme flow.

7. Mama’s banana pudding and my father-in-law’s brisket cannot be surpassed. Point blank.

8. Bernie Mac and George Carlin were some of the funniest men on the planet and would’ve had a comedic ball with the last two election cycles.

9. I will never be a fan of the following: tattoos, 90 percent of today’s reality shows and the concept of “struggle love”: living a mediocre life in the present by staying loyal to a broke man who might catch a financial come-up “someday”? Yeah, right….miss me with that one please.

10. We stay amazed at how Nia and Layla can work the laptop, cell phones and Amazon Prime menus like seasoned IT professionals, yet suddenly go deaf and have severe limb pains when Mom and Dad ask them to clean the living room. Go figure.

11. Can’t be all that surprised about former Gov. Rick Perry getting eliminated from Dancing With The Stars. Or about the breakup of “Brangelina.”

12. Speaking of marriages, when you’re rocking yoga pants, an Earth, Wind & Fire tee and filming one child in a PTA music presentation, and your husband can’t resist embarrassing the other child by telling you aloud how fine he thinks you are…..the man is most definitely a keeper. I’m just saying.