brilliant.

mighty girl's list of 20 things i wish i'd known at 20 has been floating about the blogosphere lately.

i read, i nodded, then kept nodding... bigger and bigger. more and more. i'm certain i looked like a bobble-head by the time i got to #20.

before my head fell off entirely, #18 stopped me in my tracks. i recognized it. it resonated before... i just knew it.

#18: don't be intimidated. world travelers are just people who bought plane tickets. pulitzer prize winners are people who sit alone and write. you can break the most profound accomplishments down into a series of mundane tasks.

and then i remembered. miss donna commented about it on facebook last month.

MY really profound comment in reply to her epic post?

"someone said to me once 'i wish i could pull off your style.' i told them no on ever told me i could pull off my 'style', i just pulled three pieces from the closet and walked out the door that way. this is that same concept, 'cept, like way more heroic."

it's true.

if you wait around for someone else's permission to be amazing, you'll be caught in the mediocre holding pattern for a l-o-o-o-n-g time. since everyone's wrapped up in their own pursuit of excellence, no one's going to mind if you take a stab at it yourself.

also really great on that list?

#11: being nice is overrated: in fact, "nice" is the least interesting thing someone can say about you.

dear mom,

have i, or have i not, been telling you this since i was 15 years old and you wanted me to like the "nice" young men at church?

love,

your wise daughter.