YHPRUM's Law and our greatest achievements

"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of.  You will never live if you are looking for the meaning in life."

-Albert Camus

I told my friend 7 that I was going to write a blog about this and it has taken me a few weeks to begin.  Heres hoping I do the topic justice.

YHPRUM's Law: The opposite of Murphy's law; Everything that can work, will work.

7 and I are friends that share a common bond.  We're both driven individuals who are less than enthralled in our current situations.  He was recently let go from a management position in a coffee house (thankfully he simultaneously worked at Fado), and has had lots of trouble finding something equally as challenging/rewarding that will grant him the same sort of quality of living he had enjoyed before...and me...I'm pretty much a grossly overeducated waitress.  Probably more than anything I'm searching for a job that will allow for much more intellectual stimulation than my current situation...and simultaneously give me a salary large enough to pay off my student loans and live more comfortably.  

We spent a few hours talking in a bar a couple weeks ago.  Over beer and mashed potatoes we had a long discussion about existence.  Though neither of us have degrees in physics or philosophy, we both come pretty well read.  We compared notes on things like existentialism and the expansion of the universe and came to a conclusion; Maybe the meaning of life is simply to live.

"What is the difference between an MFA and a large pizza?," Harvest joked on my voicemail last night, "A large pizza can feed a family of 3, and well...mama can't even feed herself these days."  She is currently working on commission in Utah taking pictures of tourists going down the Park City ski slopes.  She called me after her first day of "training" for the job. "Katie, they went over "aperture" for 6 hours.  I wanted to eat glass.  What the fuck am I doing with my life?"

I sent her and Lilith a text the other day threatening that if anyone else asked me why I am simultaneously waitressing and holding a master's degree, I was going to "go postal."  Both ladies were in agreement.

I tend to get down on myself a lot.  A lot of my friends do the same thing to themselves.  But maybe we shouldn't.  I think we all spend far too much time worrying about the meaning of life.  We all are too consumed with money and professional aspirations and we forget that the things that really matter are those we don't have to work for: parents, children, brothers, sisters, friends.  Relationships with those people matter.  Relationships with YOURSELF matter.  I don't mean to sound as though I am giving up.  I'm certainly not able to spend as much as I did on a MFA and not use it, but I keep hearing that good things come to those who wait.

I waited on an old couple a few days ago.  The man was the one who especially struck me.  As his wife ordered liquor for herself, he simply drank tonic water and explained that he was unable to drink due to his medication.  He shook in a manner so pronounced that it almost looked fake.  He reminded me of my grandfather and I loved him for that.  He ordered the lamb french dip and was quite concerned about the amount of fat in the meat.  I told him there wasn't much, and came back later to see how he liked it.  He said it reminded him of his "greatest achievement:"

"When my great aunt was dying in a nursing home I rushed home from grad school one day and made a huge rack of lamb.  When I was finished I brought it to her and she told me she couldn't eat it.  'Just let me smell it,' she had said.  I remember how big her smile was that day."