I don't have the highest opinion of myself. Oh, I know I'm not stupid; in fact, when I was younger, I was pretty darn bright. Good grades (we're talkin' As here!), without crackin' a book!

As I've gotten older, though, I've come to consciously realize exactly how much I don't know!

Over the past few days, though, I've been sitting in on some sales meetings, and I've been amazed at how much knowledge I've accumulated over the past four short years in this position! I retain loads of useless information: telephone numbers I can easily look up, verbatim conversations that I had literally 20 years ago! But remembering organic chemistry or physics, when I was actually enrolled in the course?!? Not so much.

But I do remember my accounts. Even the little ones. They just pop into my head when we're learning about a book that's appropriate for literally one of my several hundred customers, a customer who buys (maybe) $868 worth of books - a year! I have accounts that buy into the hundreds of thousands of dollars - but this little guy holds equal space in this freaky brain of mine! He just jumps to the forefront when they mention a book that might work for him...

The human brain is amazing! My dad (Happy Birthday, Daddy, one day late! I miss you LOTS!) used to say, "Use it or lose it!" And thankfully all my grandparents used their brains every day and that "Use it or lose it" philosophy really works: not one of them was senile when they died, even into their 90s!

I hope I can say the same for me when/if I hit my 90s!!! (Although I distinctly remember making a pact with a college friend of mine - Hi, C! - that we would live to at least 103 'cause there was just so darn much to see and do!) (From this blog to God's ears!!!)