You sounded a little down in your note. If it cheers you any, I'm 35 and I still have bouts of doubt when I ask 'What am I doing here? Where am I going?' not even knowing to whom I'm addressing the questions. Try not to worry. If you haven't got your whole life mapped out, you've joined the millions!

For most people there never comes that epiphany when, in a burst of brilliant color, purpose and meaning crystalize, happiness becomes a destination and directions to it are clearly marked on a map in your glove compartment.

In that uncertainty, I know how easy it is to forget all the things that are right when the smallest things go wrong. Trust me. Sometimes I not only see the glass as half empty instead of half full, I see bugs floating in the water.

While I'm citing cliches, we've all heard the one about not seeing the forest for the trees. But you know what? Sometimes the forest can overwhelm you and you have step back and worry about one tree at a time. If I were more clever I could make an analogy about trees and roots and how if each tree has a good foundation the forest will take care of itself. But then you'd think I had totally freaked out and I'm getting too preachy already.

So I'll leave you with something I do when the world gets too heavy. I go home, pick up my cat, hold her, pet her and talk to her. Her quiet purring in reply blocks out all the noise from everything. When her paws start kneading my shoulder just like they did to her mother's breast when she was a kitten, I know I have made somebody's world wonderful, even if that somebody is just a cat, and I feel useful and needed and loved.

If you don't have a cat, try it on your fiance. I bet it works just as well.

John

E-mail John

[ Journal Index ] [ My Music ] [ Video Clips ] [ Resume ] [ Site Map ]

©1997-2000 John McQuiston