At My Happiest

To say the least, I've always been considered "an odd bird". Meaning I never quite fit into any pigeonhole I was placed. Rather it was my upbringing by a mom not two decades older than myself or raised around adults more than kids my own age. who knows? I'm just an odd bird. 

 The reason I'm bringing this up is because there has been questions about my upbringing and my story in general. Especially the story of my struggles, determination, and eventual victory at getting my college degree. For reasons truly beyond me, people feel that I'm somehow special or different for doing what I've done. 

 I guess maybe my problem with understanding this is, the fact I don't consider myself any different. I mean, my pants go on one leg at a time (most of the time) and my belief is, that most anyone in my situation would do the same thing. So why is my story special? 

 By now you are probably wondering why the title to this is At My Happiest, I guess that's the $64 dollar question. I the reason for the title is, at my happiest, I'm overcoming. That when I win, I'm having myself a victory lap, you can say. When a difficult class problem is solved or a financial victory is won. Or when watching my wife learning to do things for herself again. Or our son comes up and hugs me for no good reason at all, those things make me happy. 

 And they teach me things too, they teach me to never be satisfied with what your handed. To take that piss poor hand you got, reshuffle it and deal again. That's what I've learned.

 Recently I've been reading some wonderful books by Thich Nhat Hanh a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk, that a lot of my "Christian" friends could learn from. He has shown me how the past is the past and that future is another day. And, all that me and you have is the here and now. So what are you going to do with it? 

 If my silly little story can teach anyone anything it would be, what you doing now? Are you building today for a better tomorrow? Or are you being the best you can now? Live today.

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