What is success?

Today marks my 38th year as an employee of the City of Los Angeles.  I got the job, two weeks out of high school when the GUY they hired ,to adhere to their Affirmative Action goals ,NEVER came back after the first day.  I had scored a perfect 100 on the test, but alas, as a white female could not be hired because they had too many white females.  Nevertheless, eventually I got the job and am still here, not doing the same job, but here.

I never thought I would be with the City all that long, but it has been a good career for me. I have enjoyed, for the most part, the jobs I have done ( we won't talk about the disastrous eighteen months at Transportation, or as I refer to it " A Season in Hell")  Last summer, I met up with an old friend from Elementary school.  I had not seen her since the 5th grade or something like that and it was nice to reconnect, or so I thought.  She has a nice house and a nice life in the Bay Area.  She asked about my life and I told her that I had gotten married for the first time at nineteen "But you were so smart" she exclaimed, as if getting married put the brakes on my future.  I told her that I had finished college and had been working for the City since I was eighteen,  She seemed to believe that this was not success.  That conversation last year got me thinking and with the anniversary of the beginning of my career path I have been ruminating on the meaning of success for myself.

I think everyone has a different idea of what success means to them.  For some, it's a big car and a big house and a beautiful spouse and designer children.  Isn't that what the media programs us to believe?  Some girls think if they don't have a boyfriend by High School, they are failures.  For me, I would like the house and the dog and the yard, but I am successful, even if my childhood friend doesn't think so.  I have a husband who is my partner and my best friend.   We live in a cute, comfortable apartment and we have great friends.  I have a job that both aggravates and energizes me.  I work with some wonderful people and the work we do MATTERS.  I volunteer my time at a local non-profit, as I don't have a lot of money, but I can give my time.  I have a wonderful daughter and son-in-law, who are giving me a grandson to love in a few months.  I never wrote the Great American Novel, I don't think  I have that kind of work in me.  I am writing this blog and YOU are reading it! (thank you).  I am happy, which is really the point of living, isn't it?   There's a James Taylor song in which he declares "The secret of life is enjoying the passing of time"  I couldn't agree  more.