I would just like to mention, in case I haven’t lately, that I love my life. I have a job which, while boring, pays very well and allows me to work at home. The disadvantage, as I told my manager a while ago, to working at home is that it can be impossible to tell the difference between taking a break and vacuuming the living room. On the other hand, it’s also difficult to differentiate between taking a break and baking chocolate chip cookies. :)
I have a second job which excites me beyond words and which I hope to switch into my full-time career in another 18 months. 18 months on one hand seems like a TERRIBLY LONG TIME; on the other, it’s unquestionably The Forseeable Future.
I own a nice house in a nice neighborhood where the kids yell, “HI CHANTI!” when I take the dog for a walk, although they show no interest at all in what *my* name is. One of the little boys shows off a new bike-riding trick every chance he gets, as I go by. There is a fourteen mile bike/walk trail right next to my house, and I get to see astounding Alaskan scenery and the occasional moose (don’t ask what the moose is when it’s not an occasional moose) when I go for bike rides and walks. Every day when I do this, I’m thrilled all over again about my life.
I have a wonderful, silly family whom I see regularly (although in my sister’s case, not regularly enough), who are all sufficiently cool that my friends now all want to be adopted, and my friends in high school would come over to visit and if I wasn’t home, they’d just stay for a couple of hours to talk with my parents.
I have boatloads of talented, intelligent, ambitious friends, most of whom I don’t see anything like often enough, but when I do, I enoy the time spent in their company immensely. I’m continually amazed at just how cool the people I know are.
And I have an amazing husband who is astonishingly talented in his own right, who also is not only capable of but actively focused on being supportive of me and my career. Ursula said of her husband, “He has quietly done the whatever I am supposed to be doing, like washing the dishes, made dinner, and put tinfoil over my portion… And when I finally come up for air…and thank him, he shrugs and says “Hey, I know how it is with art.” Take my advice, O fellow artspawn–a spouse who believes in your gift and knows how it is with art is worth their weight in those short-lived superheavy elements that cost a million dollars an atom.”
This is the kind of husband Ted is. I didn’t know that when I married him, but damn, I tell you what, I couldn’t have done better if I’d been trying.
So, yeah. In case I haven’t mentioned it lately, I love my husband, I love my family, I love my friends, I love my life. It’s a *good* life.
Wah! I want one!
Is an occasional moose one that lurks in the living room by the couch? Can you put your drinks on it?
In which case, the moose must be a Dining Moose when it is not an Occasional Moose.
It’s occasionally a very, very good thing to step back, look at ones life, and see all the good stuff. It’s way too easy to get caught up in the irritating minutia of life and to forget that overall, things are good. In your case, very good.
And I want an occasional moose.
The moose, by and large, does not lurk in the living room by the couch, which I am grateful for, because a moose would fill up the living room in a most alarming way. Nor have I tried putting drinks on a moose, although that would be pretty funny. :)