You've got to give a little

Life seems to be full of extremes.

There are dreams. There are expectations. And there is the reality of what actually is.

The closer these things are, the happier I am and the more content I am with my life.

Of course there are levels within each of these categories too. Health, love, family, career, each one has a huge effect on the others.

Picture a huge abacus balanced on a fulcrum like a teeter totter. The fickle finger of fate vies with my intentions and my actual actions, pushing those beads back and forth, trying to tip everything over and turn my life upside down.

I would like to think I am very zen about this; a Yoda character quietly proclaiming, "Balanced it is." Sometimes that is true, but other times I run around like the Mad Hatter trying to juggle days on a minute to minute basis.

The truth is I am always just a step away from everything. The only constant is the realization that there are no guarantees, no binding contracts with the future, no promises that can't be broken as long as I am human and interacting with other humans.

Unlike the abacus with its rigid frame and linear wires, I must be able to bend in every way to survive.

And I can.

If I try hard enough.