Living the "ideal life"

To me, living a full life means living a life that you are happy with having. You don’t have to have a lot of money, a fancy car, a big house, a glamorous job, three college degrees, and the perfect little family to achieve that (although, for some people, that is exactly what makes them happy). When I think about living a life that you are happy with, a life that you are proud of, I often think of my dad and the life that he has lived. Through his life experiences he has taught me that it does not necessarily matter how high up you live your life, but how high up you hold your head while living it. The reason that my dad comes across as a perfect example to me is because he has not exactly lived the most “glamorous” life. He has many obstacles and challenges, has fallen to the bottom and turned right around gotten right back up. He lost his dad when he was only 8 years old and his mother was forced to go back to work in order to support four young children. He worked hard in school, but ultimately wound up dropping out in order to work full time and spend time with his friends. He and my mom married young, and before they were even 20 years old they were on the own. My dad continued to work his butt off in order to support him and my mom, and eventually, me. Even though he sometimes regrets that he never finished high school, went to college and got a degree, and then got, what society calls, a “real job”, he is very happy with what he has in life. We’ve never done really had to do without, we’ve always had a roof over our heads, food on our plates, clothes on our backs, and a little extra money on the side to travel and do things we wanted to do. My dad has taught me a lot of things in my short life, but the greatest thing that he has taught me was that as long as you’re happy with the life your living; you’re on the right track

With that being said, I wish to follow the example he has been providing me with since the day I was born. I want to live a life that I will be happy with, one that I will be proud of and will want to one day share with people. The life that I am living now is a little off track from what I think ideal would be for me, but that’s okay, because I have learned, that sometimes you have to get pushed off the tracks in order to realize that you were going in the wrong direction in the first place. I have made a lot of wrong decisions in my life; I’ve also made a lot of right ones. I have hurt people and I have been hurt. I (especially over the past year) have faced a lot of obstacles: some of which I pushed to the side and ignored, some I am still fighting with to this day, and some that I have overcome.

One of the biggest obstacles I have faced was how to get through the death of my grandmother in early March of this year. She had been sick since October of 2007 and she should have been dead a good four months before she left us. One of the reasons that this was hard was not only was she my grandmother, but she was also my best-friend and I loved her more than anything in this world. She never worked a day in her life, so she considered taking care of her 10 grand-children and 10 great-grand-children, her job; and that’s exactly what she did. She baby sat me when I was younger, she came to most, if not all, of my soccer games. She was there every Thanksgiving, every Christmas and Easter; she showed up at every birthday party, sent a card every Halloween, and called on every Valentine’s Day. She never missed a beat. She sat through the long nights of no sleep, listened to every wild dream, cooked many a grilled cheese sandwich, and spent many an hour playing board games with me. I could tell her anything and everything, and I did. She was the one person who never gave up on me, she’s the one who convinced me that it wasn’t crazy to want to be a pilot when everyone else just shook their heads, and when I wanted to be a marine biologist she bought me a bunch of plastic sea animals and told me it was start. Now that she’s no long here I’ve had to go through an Easter without her famous mashed potatoes, a Mother’s Day on which I avoided the card section at all costs, a birthday with no 8am wake-up call, and a family reunion full of good food and amazing company; all without her. I struggle with it a lot more than people think (cause I’ve always been the strong one), and every time something amazing in my life happens I have to stop myself from picking up the phone and calling her.

Even though I’ve had to fight through obstacle, and many others, it has made me a stronger person. I’ve learned that in order to help me be happy I have to do whatever it takes to keep the people who make me happy in my life. I’ve learned to not take things for granted. But most importantly, I have learned to never give up. No matter what it is, I’ve learned to keep my head high and just keep moving on.