Live Large
Thanksgiving brought a good chunk of the family together for a couple of joyous days. I admit to monopolizing the time and attention of my 17-month-old granddaughter. Nobody was trying to take her away from me, so we played, read, and napped together. I think we are now buddies. It might be wishful thinking, but she seems like she’ll be a great skier.
At one point on Thursday, in our post-wine-with-meal delirium, the conversation turned philosophical. One of my daughters asked me if my life had been different than what I had imagined when I was younger. Seems like one of those questions you ask old people. My story is still being written, and the best chapters lie ahead. But I lacked the energy to argue.
To honestly answer a question like that, you’d have to first be able to claim that you had a vision for your life. If I ever did, it was pretty vague and hazy. I’ve been ambitious and driven since I can remember; however, that didn’t mean I had a clue where those things would lead me. The only specific life goal I have ever had was to keep it interesting and exciting.
If your life story were a movie, would anyone want to see it? Let’s face it, most life stories are not exactly epic sagas. Thoreau said that “the great mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” He believed that most people were spiritually unfulfilled because they were trapped by social expectations, economic pressures, and unexamined routines. This is survival, not meaningful, self-directed living, and nobody wants to watch that movie.
In this phase of life, I am over-indexing on experiences and relationships – often combining the two. For me, that means being the nexus of a network and bringing people together to ski, dive, fish, hike, explore, surf, cruise, watch sports, laugh, eat, talk, relax, and drink really good wine. This is a deliberate, ever-expanding community of people I love dearly.
So, to answer my daughter’s question, I can say that the vision is now getting clearer. Adventures await, and the people who populate the pages of my autobiography are the ones who will make it interesting. Still not sure anyone will want to watch the movie, but it will feature a giant cast of characters who each play an important role in my life story.
