MAGGIE......!!! I heard that yell that included all my given names. My heart dropped into my stomach and I knew instantly that I had burnt the rice...again. Such heart-stopping incidents and other discoveries along my life's journey caused me to silently wish several times that I knew more than I actually did. In fact, I wish my mother had told me and thus reduced the shock and sometimes horror that my "not knowing" caused me to have to face up with. After all, I went through the educational system up to degree level, shouldn't I know how to cook a simple pot of rice without it getting burnt? So was born the idea and determination to catalogue in some reusable form things that I think would have made my journey into the big, wide world a little easier to navigate. I was going to do this for my daughter so she had a hand book she could refer to and perhaps prompt her to ask me more questions. So I present 100 things I wish my mother had told me in 10 chapters, covering 10 points in each chapter to others. It is by no means exhaustive but I hope it prompts other mothers out there and helps other daughters like mine, to laugh, agree, maybe cry but most importantly to know by communicating more.