I spent my weekend up in Michigan, much to my surprise, it was a change of plans considering the fact that I had originally planned the idea of driving down to Cincinnati to go to the New Port Aquarium. The sudden change of plans occurred as we were leaving the movie theatre. My uncle received a message from his cousin, whom he speaks to on occasion but has not seen in over five or so years. She did not know he had came to visit us from Chicago, and she stumbled across his FaceBook and sent him a Message stating he should come visit them soon. After briefly discussing the idea among the three of us ( my mom, my uncle and myself) we concluded that it would be nice to go visit them; so, it definitely was a last minute decision.
I was excited about going up to visit since the last time I saw them was last year around this time for Leo’s, their son, birthday party. Now Leo is a special little guy, not like any other three year old you have met before. He definitely has a very diverse family. His exquisite facial features immediately reveal his family’s ethnicity, half Mexican and half Chinese. He is as fluent as a three year can be in English, Spanish, and Laos with a few gibberish words in there. I’ve often found myself having some sort of deep conversation with him about his picture books and his purple bouncing ball. One could never get tired of spending time with Leo, at least that’s if you like kids. I am sure even if you don’t, Leo would be an exception.
Seeing Leo run to his kid-sized bookshelf and pick out a book that he wants me to read to him can’t stop my emotions and desire for a kid. Whoa! Did I just say that? Well, I am sure, as most of you know I am a very family oriented person. My family will always come first in my life. Now I don’t necessarily have my “own” family, by that I mean a kid and a wife, but I do have a younger brother and a mom that needs help every time I blink, (It gets annoying, trust me). But when I think about what I want in life more than anything it would be a family to call my own, a family to love and come home to, a family that can drive me crazy at the end of the day but I’ll still love them as much as I did the night before or that same morning. What ever happened to my desire to go out and travel the world, to party and have fun, to play video games until I fall asleep, to have endless hours to spend with friends? Well, to be quite honest, I don’t know. I do know, however, that all those moments I had in life were always fun but not necessarily what I always wanted.
I guess my “young adult life” or “teenage life” was just taken from me and starting from a young age I had always taken care of my direct family, my brother and my mom. My selfish ways were abruptly ripped from my life by the own hands of God and for that I thank Him. Now, as much as I love both of them very much it wasn’t necessarily the life I wanted, now as an adult I am ready to venture into my own world and live the life I want. However, there is a time for everything and I know now is not the time to do that. I do hope that within the next year or two I will be able to start the life I want to live by. Still, my imagination runs wild with what the future holds for me. I constantly think about the way I will be raising my kid, playing with him, teaching him, putting him on time out, growing as a person as he grows as well. At the same time I begin thinking about what I will do to support such an important part of my life, do I want a job that will make $120,000 a year but take away time from my family? Or will I want a job where I make half of that but with the available time to cherish my beloved family? Money doesn’t necessarily play an important part in my life. Sadly, money makes the world go ‘round, or so they say.
Well, I am still years away from that part of my life. Until then, I will focus on school and work and provide what I can for myself and just save enough to start my own life. After all, I am still a young man walking the path God has currently set me on. I know when the time comes I will be ready for what I desire and be able to provide enough for those certain desires. In end, I can’t stop and tell myself I am crazy for such thoughts. Now, someone needs to knock some sense into me. Until then, I will have wonderful little cousins such as Leo and Giovanni to learn from. Life is simply an education available to everybody. Depending what you make of it, to me, life’s education is more rich and fulfilling than that of an expensive private college.
With all this in mind I ask you this:
What would you consider being successful?
What are your goals and your desires?
