Life

10 3 3
                                    

What is the meaning of life? A question so many people have asked but no one had yet found an answer. I have always felt something is missing... but I do not know what it is.
Must I find love? I'm moving in with my fiancé in a couple weeks so that can't be the answer.
Must I find purpose? For my Kindergarten classroom certainly finds me useful.
Must I be intellectual? I have degrees in math and science; I would think that should be sufficient.
Must I work harder? I work from seven to nine every day and I give my best effort no matter how terrible the morning is. Surely that's enough.
Must I be rich? I may not be a billionaire, but I have enough money to live happily and successful.
Must I be beautiful? I may not be the most attractive person on the face of the planet. My short brown hair and hazel eyes could use many improvements, but I am comfortable in my own body.
Is it because I'm living my life wrong? I don't believe that there is a wrong way to live life as long as you're happy.
Must I be selfless? I allow my fiancé to do irresponsible and irrational things because it makes him happy. He stays out late, comes home drunk and hurts me, but he always has a happy smile on his face in the morning so I keep letting him do it. My boss sexually harasses me after hours but the next morning he always smiles at me and my fiancé never complains, so I am doing good by making them both happy.
Is it because I am not important enough? I believe that as long as I'm making other people happy I'm serving my purpose. Earlier in my life I didn't make my parents happy, so they left me behind and now I'm sure they're happier without me. I'm important to my fiancé, no matter how much he denies it. My boss says I'm important and that no one could be a better kindergarten teacher then I, so I obviously have use. 
Is it because I've made too many mistakes? My parents left me in an orphanage when I was old enough to remember them, so I wouldn't know the mistakes a made to make them leave me. I don't know what mistakes I made in order for me to miscarry... twice. I don't know how many mistakes I've made in the past but I don't think that it has anything to do with the meaning of life.
Must I be honest? I've lied quite a few times in my life, to get my husband out of jail, to other teachers who ask about my boss and I, to my neighbor when she asks what the screaming late at night is from, but that doesn't make me a bad person.. Does it?
Is it because I'm not religious? I don't believe in god anymore, for my fiancé says not to believe in such childish things.
Is it because I'm not grateful? I should be grateful for this job and wonderful fiancé and these caring neighbors that have been given to me, yet I wish my life were different.
I don't know what my life will come to or where it will lead. But I know one thing for certain... My life is perfect, just the way it is. I may not believe in god but I thank him every night for giving me my loving fiancé, no matter how many scars and bruises my body has claimed from him. I thank him for my job and boss, no matter how many times he takes advantage of me. I thank him for the possibilities that lie before me, no matter the number of children I've lost. I thank him for my parents, though they weren't there for much of my life. I thank him for my neighbors and their caring nature, who haven't moved even when I had advised them so. I thank him for our home, no matter how many drugs lie within our walls. I thank him every day when my students come to class, their little smiling faces shining so brightly it makes me forget my troubles.
The meaning of life to me is to be happy. Just to be happy. What makes me happy is to make others happy, even though I may be falling apart myself.

LifeWhere stories live. Discover now