Free And Easy

As I previously stated in the last post, Kendall gave me direction.  Pre-Kendall, I lived a very free and easy, almost totally selfish life, but my life post-Kendall has had more of a defined direction:  Adulthood.  I'm still very laid back (to a fault maybe - I've lost jobs because I didn't express enough "energy" or "enthusiasm" in interviews), and I do have a "free and easy" mentality when it comes to most things. 

I hope I didn't paint a bad picture of my mama in my last post, as she is extremely important to me and we share so many qualities and she is the only one that understands me sometimes.  She also has a free and easy way about her as well, and I get a lot of my personality and temperment from her, a lot of my free and easiness if you will. 

So, you may be asking yourself, what does "free and easy" mean exactly?  Well, for me at least, it means that I never take myself or things too seriously.  I usually am able to stay very calm in the face of intense adversity, handle stress very well, and prefer spontaneity and going with the flow over planning and someone dictating to me.  I never thought I would give marriage a second of thought before 30, and always knew I would either be in California after college or working at a resort in Hawaii just so I could enjoy the beach and paradise giving no thought to money.  I always thought that I had the rest of my life to "grow up" and take on all the stresses and realities of adulthood, and that I had a choice to prolong my youth as long as I wanted:  I didn't want to waste my life.  Who knows, maybe my life would have gone down that road if I had made different choices, but, just as unknown, is whether or not I would even be happy with that life choice?  I, also - unlike most people in my family and the South - don't consider Democrat a bad word, and am probably the only registered Democrat in my family, but I am because it fits who I am (it took me a while to figure that out).  The book "Blue Like Jazz", I can actually say changed my life and made me look at my beloved religion (Christianity) in a very different way.  I don't believe in bigotry, being judgemental, or holier than thou, but, rather I try to give everyone the same chance and I put myself in their shoes before making any assumptions or judgements. 

So, I may not be as bohemian as I thought I once would be.  I may not be without a lot of the attachments and responsibilities I have today, but I still have the same attitude and outlook on life.  My wife on the other hand, is the polar opposite, but we complement each other very well; and have even begun to rub off on each other.  My life may be different than I thought it would've been ten years ago, but I believe (and this is what's important) that the me of ten years ago would still recognize and be proud of the me of today.  So, the road may be a different one than I anticipated, but I still go free and easy down it.