In the business world, they use the acronym “subject matter expert” or SME to describe a person who seems to know a lot about a particular topic. But what about outside the business world?

Take parenting. I’ve successfully launched three young adults on their chosen career paths. Twenty-one years of parenting does provide a certain level of expertise, at least about my own children. I have to keep my chortles to myself when I read about women who have these absolutely perfect ideas about bringing a tiny human into this world. I remember being one of them…21 years ago. I have since learned, as many of us do, that things rarely go as planned.

Doctors are another group that doesn’t seem to think anyone except them could be a SME. I live with my multiple disease processes. Every. Single. Day. I didn’t learn about them in a semester long class. I didn’t write a research paper or capstone project. Actually, I might have done the equivalent trying to learn about the 1:50,000 occurrence rate diseases (translated: rare) that no one seems to know how to deal with. But even with that knowledge about a single disease, I still have to consider what domino effect is triggered in my body when one of them acts up. So, yes, I am a SME on myself. Don’t look at me like that….when you live waiting for the other shoe to drop because you know it eventually will because you have studied everything available to you so you can educate others…yes, that’s a fair assessment.

Yes, it absolutely is hard not to laugh sometimes. I struggle to keep a straight face as I watch people learn about life’s curveballs and see their surprised expressions in photographs when the plan changes. Maybe it’s mean, rude or otherwise unkind. I really do try not to do it out loud. I call it controlling my inner snark.

And I apologize in advance if you catch me with a little grin sometimes.