"What would you do if money weren't a factor?" I asked my wife the other day. She hates these kinds of questions. She's much more of a "what are we physically, palpably doing right now" kind of sort. Doesn't care much for deep thinking, day dreaming, or unnecessary mindsets that do not help a situation at that very moment. She's the ketchup to my mustard. I tend to like these types of questions. They help me continue to look for balance...and balance, my friends, is the key to everything. We all go down certain paths, taking our best guess as to whether or not it's the right one for us. I would never, ever conclude that I've gone down the wrong path--clearly, the paths I've taken have lead to amazing things, most notably my wife. But one thing that my paths have not lead to is money--at least sizable piles of it. Blame that on choosing one direction over another, one opportunity over another, or just some ass-backwards gene that I've inherited preventing me from attaining monetary success. If my paths had lead to dollars, I wouldn't be asking this question, and hence we would have no blog post to read. When I ask myself the question, "What would you do if money weren't a factor?", I immediately start conjuring up adventure. Traveling, tasting, seeing, experiencing. I want to go places, see things, hear things, sample things. Money's no issue, right? Let's go to Ireland, Italy, Alaska, no-named islands in the middle of the ocean. Hell, let's go to San Francisco--never been there. Pile it on. The more travel and adventure the better. My kids will be well-traveled, cultured humans by the age of six. Pack your shit, let's go. Then quickly, possibly from being overwhelmed at the thought of constant travel, I think of the polar opposite. A homestead. Land to roam. Room to breathe. Nowhere to be other than our commune de Earl, unless we want to be there. A different experience; one that teaches you to appreciate what you've got and to build on it. Plant roots, final ones. The perfect chunk of land...the perfect house that we've designed...for good. That sounds nice, too. So after the dust settles from all my day dreaming nonsense, the answer to my question that I've presented to myself (because my wife doesn't want to hear it) is...balance. If money weren't a factor, I'd achieve balance. We strive for it now, my wife and I, and for the most part we attain it. But if money weren't a factor, I'd strive for it on a little bit grander scale. More trips and adventure. Then come home to our place on our land. Nothing ludicrous at all. Just some nice, adventurous trips--probably flying first class...maybe a Sprinter van or someshit. Sometimes the kids are invited, sometimes not. Sometimes we fly fish, other times we just eat & drink. Then at the end of the vacay, we go home...away from people. Away from the 'burbs and the cities. We then go back to working hard at whatever we're doing that makes us happy. Then, I'd enjoy a glass of Scotch. Out of a $40 bottle. //re.
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AuthorI am Earl. Archives
May 2024
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