How My Life Turned Out

I once aspired, no, yearned to live in Dallas for many youthful and romantic reasons. I often feel that same yearning when I am in Dallas, but that is only nostalgia. When I come home to Austin I realize that Dallas and I are not a good fit. I could never be like the people in Dallas. It's too high end. Too high maintenance. There is not the emphasis on intellect or informed debate. Everything seems so one sided there. No dialogue about politics, religion, or social awareness. It's a very Republican city and for a liberal Democrat like me, I just would not make it.

When I left college I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I had been blind sided by life during my senior year and ended up graduating with no plan for my future. For a short time I worked in the retail business, thinking it would forge some sort of connection between me and the life I was jolted out of when I left college. Eventually i grew tired of working for coporate America. It was a high dollar store with high dollar customers. I just didn't feel like I was doing anything for mankind that was worthwhile. So, I moved on.

I ended up in Human Services, of all things. I never thought this would be my career, but it has been for the last 25+ years. And I never thought I would enjoy it as much as I have. It has been a learning experience. A real eye opener. My area of expertise has been mental retardation. I have worked with some amazing people. Co-workers and consumers. It's been a fascinating career. And I like to believe that I would do it all again. The pay isn't great, but the feeling of accomplishment is wonderful.

To all those people I knew in college who now make big bucks in the coporate world, I salute you for your financial successes. I am sure that is a wonderful thing to be financially secure. I wish I could say that I felt as comfortable about my financial rewards as you, but I think I feel a lot richer in some other ways that you will never know. It's a trade off I guess. I traded off making money for something else. Something I can't really describe, but in the end it's ok.

In the end, it's all ok. As long as we are satisfied we did our best. We learned as much as we could. We tried as hard as we could to do the right thing. Then it's all ok. I hope that's what I have done these last few years. It took me a long long time to get here, but now that I am, it's good. Very, very good.