I have a friend who is avery good friend but she is VERY scatterbrained. One of the results of this, is that she is ALWAYS late for everything. I'm not talking a few minutes, I'm talking like I'm supposed to met her at her house and she shows up 2 hours late because she saw an intersting dogon the side of the road and she stopped to look at it. I was getting really annoyed because we were always missing movies, she'd get at my house at 2pm to go to the fair that closes at 5pm and it's an hour away...stuff like that. She knows this isa big issue with everybody, and she always awears she's not going to do it again, but then she forgets.

My mother told me that if thought she was worth being friends with, I should justadjust because that was just part of her personality and it I didn't think she was that important then I should just stop hanging around with her because she was stressing me out.

She's a really good friend so what I ended up doing was:
1- I meet up with her at places whenever possible. She knows if she doesn't show up we will go inside the movie without her.
2- she gave me a key to her house so when she shows up late, I don't have to wait in the parking lot in 90 degree weather.

I apply this to all relationships now. If I get upset at someone, I decide it I want them around or not, and it I do, i find a ways to have them not upset me. It beats having no firends or being annoyed all the time.

My Mom to me:
"You pay for your raising". meaning the stress I put on them I will get from my own son.

My (then) 5yr old nephew to his mom who got dressed up for an evening out:
"You look like a hundred bucks". We still laugh at this.

My (then) 7yr old son to me while sipping on a Pepsi in the car:
"Dad, your drinking & driving!".

The phrase "never chase what you cannot catch" I have just now started putting that quote to work.

Advice: My mum (yes, also British) always told me find what makes me happy and enjoy life,

My dad always says, which I like, "Well, its better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick".

I love Oscar Wilde's "What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing"

Oona