A few days ago I began working on this post as I sat in my future mother-in-law’s lake house. Today I am napping in the cab of a 26ft. box truck with the air conditioner broken, smoldering in the Alabama heat of Montgomery. The difference between a $400,000 lake house and momentary home on the road where I make my paycheck has nothing to do with money, but with circumstance. Potentially, I may one day own my own lake house. Potentially, I may work at this job for the rest of my life. Potentially, anything and everything could happen to me. However, the circumstantial reality of it all is that to worry about what may or may not happen to you is really a waste of time and effort.

As I think back to that water crashing against the dock a mere 40 feet away from me, I recall I had lost track of the time. I wasn’t lost in thought; I was simply reveling in the concrete truth of where I was. Before long, it was time for me and my girlfriend to leave, go to our own home, and take care of our own house. Thing is, I didn’t want to leave. The life that my mother-in-law has right now is where I want to be.

What was happening was not jealousy, it was wishing I suppose. I don’t want her life per say, and I don’t want her house and money, I want that level of happiness and comfortability. I want to be able to provide for someone the way she is able to, and relax without worrying if I was going to have enough in my paycheck to pay the bills.

So many times in so many people’s lives, penny-pinching turns from being a phrase and into a way of life. Waiting on that Friday check so that the electricity can be paid three days into the four-day grace period. How nice would it be to have all of your debts and payments done at the first of every month? However, much like the sunken city of Atlantis, it takes the stand as more of a mythical thing rather than something surreal and attainable.

Even as I say all of this, I am happy. Most people, I believe, are generally happy. The thing that seems to hinder their happiness is the possibility of them losing everything they hold dear. I am not talking about their iPhones, or cable, I’m talking about their home, their food, their water and electricity, and their family. Honestly, the only thing that truly matters is family in the end. I believe that as long as you set your priorities up where your family takes the number one slot, then everything else will fall into place eventually.

I think that we all can and will remain happy and carefree as long as we remember that life happens. Whether good or bad, nothing will ever be bad enough to put you in a position where you take something precious for granted. Whether you make $20,000 a year or $130,000, life is about the experience, and not the expenses.