A Life Story

The inevitability of life. Not sure what that means, but it popped into my head last night while I lay in bed. It seems like a good idea, too. An idea I should spend some time parsing. I think it has something to do with things I want compared to the things I actually get. And it’s not about shopping. In a small way, it also has something to do with acceptance, an acknowledgement of what’s real, and right now. Somewhere in there, of course, is striving, of working towards something.

In my case, I think my goals are relatively small, but over the course of my life, I doubt I’ve ever had any really big ones. Everything felt mostly short term. I needed a job out of high school; I got one. I got drafted; I joined the Naval Reserve. I wanted to go to college; I went. Marriage came. Kids came. I climbed the corporate ladder until I owned my own company. I took what I could get and made the best of it. Even when the bad times came, I just shifted into low gear and climbed the hill. 

Did I accomplish anything of note? Nope. Unless a long marriage, tender care during my wife’s long illness, and three kids who still talk to me counts, and I suspect it does. But what prize was I hoping to win? For me, mostly peace of mind, I suppose. The acceptance of what is while knowing I’ve done my best in the hunt for what might have been. The inevitability of life.