I don't hang around Facebook very much...mostly just to spy on my offspring...but I recently read the post of a dear friend, whose name is not Marcie but that's what I'll call her. It said, "I love my life. I hope you love yours..." I was just about to post a glib response, like "Yeah, I'd love your life too" or maybe "Wanna' switch?" But I did not. I did not because I paused and thought about what she said. I thought about it slowly..."I love my life." Marcie did not say, "I love life." We all - well most of us - love life itself, especially considering the alternative. No. Marcie wrote that she loves her life. As I thought about it - and continued to think about it for days - the profoundness of that brief comment settled somewhere very deep.
It lingered. The thought hovered over my head like one of those dialog balloons and intrigued me so much that I began to ask members of my "team" at work whether he or she loved their life. Not life, but their life. "Why...are you dying?" was the first response of a Mr. Smarty-Pants who is in the midst of a divorce, and who then responded, "No, I hate my life right now because I either have to sleep on a friend's couch or live in my car." Another said he loved his life on the weekends but only if there was beer in the fridge. Obviously, I was not going to get anything close to meaningful responses from this crowd so I dropped the query and they all seemed very much relieved. The subject of the conversation changed to something a little more comfortable - I think it was basketball. Nevertheless, the obvious question - the one I avoided asking was: Do I love mine? It's something to think about, isn't it.
I'm not trying to sound all Existentialisty, which, of course I couldn't do if I tried since I remember very little about it from my college philosophy class other than that it made my head hurt. I do recall something about first existence and then experience...or was it the other way around? Or was it essence and not experience? Or none of the above? In any event, "I love my life" demonstrates a philosophical attitude that is easy to understand if you know the person who holds it.
If you asked her, I do not believe Marcie would ever say her life has been perfect but it is different from the lives many of us live in one important respect: Marcie really concentrates on doing good. That is how she lives her life but I'm not sure she goes about it with that intent upper most in her mind. I think "doing good" might just come naturally to her - like some people can play the piano without taking lessons. So does looking at the glass half-full. She reminds me of the phrase, "Getting what you want is not the same as wanting what you have." And looking back over the years I've known her, I can honestly say that even when things in her life were less than sunny, Marcie has been able to maintain an aura of happiness about her - I guess you could say she possesses that rarest of qualities: "a touch of grace." It is fun to be around her and when you part you really do feel better about life - in general and your own.
So, yes, I can see how she is able to say "I love my life." It's a mighty fine one..mighty fine.
