Some things stick in your mind forever...like good advice

 I say this to a lot of people: I don't like to give advice because I don't like to get it.

Snarky, but true.

That statement is true 99.99% of the time for me. Basically, most of the knowledge people have tried to impart to me over the years has been unsolicited. I don't think anyone likes that kind of advice. Or maybe I'm just different. LOL.

There is one piece of advice that I received right before I left for college from, of all people, my mother. I say it that way because the woman wasn't known for being a deep thinker. She also never advised as much as told you what to do.

I was equal parts nervous and thrilled to be finally leaving a home situation that wasn't exactly a Brady Bunch clone. As I was packing my bags, my mother came into my room, sat on the bed, and said she wanted to discuss something with me.

I was horrified she was going to have a conversation with me about sex and almost said, "I'm a little too old to be taught about the birds and the bees, Mom." But I kept my mouth shut and let her speak.

"I've been able to protect you while you've lived with me," she said. "But you're going to be meeting new people now, people you don't know anything about. Some of them will be for you, some won't. Some will try to trick you, and others will try to worm their way into your life for their own reasons. It's up to you to figure out who you can trust. But ( HERE'S THE ADVICE!) Watch what people do more than what they say. People show you who they are by their actions and deeds, not their words."

I was floored.

This was so profound I almost asked if she'd read it on a fortune cookie.

Again, snarky but true.

Turns out my mother was a deep thinker when it came to people and their motivations. 

Years later I found this quote from Maya Angelou

My mother, it seems got it right.

Words to live by - people show you who they are. Believe that, not their words.

Peggy Jaeger is a romance author who writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can't live without them.

She blogs daily on her website PeggyJaeger.com about life, writing, and things that make her say "WHAT??!"