San Diego - Money and Happiness 2

"Karl," I responded, trying to get his attention.

"And then, you can do whatever you want," he concluded with more than a little self-satisfaction present in his voice.

"I disagree completely," I responded, which happened to be one of my favorite ways to begin a rebuttal. "I think you do something you are interested in and everything else follows."

"Wouldn't you rather have the freedom to do whatever you are interested in without worrying about money," Karl responded. "You work hard for about three years, and then you are free to do whatever you want."

"Three years?" I said, repeating his estimate. "Three years to set up a profitable business that will support you for the rest of your life?"

"Okay, maybe five or six years," he responded.

"If you tell anyone who has started their own business and been successful, that it only takes five years, I think they would laugh in your face. Besides," I continued. "Let's say that it does only take five years, that is still five years of your life that you are essentially throwing away, and for what?"

"For the freedom to do whatever you want for the rest of your life," he answered.

"I think you find something you love, and you do that, and everything will come to you in due time."

From out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kelly nodding in agreement.

"I think it's safe to assume," I continued, making eye contact with both Kelly and Karl. "That all of us are going to be financially secure by the time we're about forty. It's just a matter of what we do in those intervening years that determines whether or not we are happy. Personally, I don't care how much money I have when I'm forty, if I had spent the past fifteen years selling ice-cream to get there. Ultimately, I'd rather be at age forty, making a decent living, with fifteen years of memories, doing the things I loved, than be a forty-year-old millionaire with fifteen years of memories of ice-cream."

I looked out of the corner of my eye again and could see Kelly smiling. Karl thought for a moment before saying, "I don't know, I guess I just think differently."

Later that same evening, the three of us went to a local dive bar and had drinks. Images of meeting a cute girl without much of a personality and for once in my life, not asking her for her phone number. Talking with Kelly about our respective sexual pasts, her face close to mine, staring into her eyes, and then returning home and seeing her and Karl disappear into his room. Through a door left slightly ajar, I caught a glimpse of them sitting on his bed. She was lying on her stomach as he massaged her shoulders.

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