I'll know I've made it when I host a get together for 15 friends and everyone has a place to sit and everyone has a wine glass which is made of glass and I make a classy pesto pasta salad with fusilli and pine nuts, among other things, and I actually grew the basil for the pesto in my garden which is on my terrace, which I have, and someone says "This pasta is perfectly al dente" and I'm like "It doesn't hold a candle to your quiche!" and we smile warmly at each other because both the pasta and quiche are so good and what a life we lead. And then my landline, which I have, rings and it's the landscapers, which I have, and I haggle with them over the price in a stern but warm demeanor and I say the word "unacceptable" and I am able to distinguish between different types of grass and finally they acquiesce and I get off the phone and apologize and note my disapproval of their outrageous prices for lawn pampering and everyone nods in knowing agreement. And then one of the guests says that my flowers are beautiful and what are they? And I tell them thank you, they are a crossbreed between geranium and hyacinth and I actually ordered the seeds from a special flower boutique off the coast of Montana called Patty's Petals where all the seeds are home-schooled through a customized flower curriculum and someone says, but there is no coast of Montana? and I say, well by that I obviously just meant North Dakota, and we laugh, and then someone else says I love that place! thus indicating, yes I have a friend group wherein multiple of us import our flowers from a home-schooling flower shop off the coast of Montana aka North Dakota. And then a wine glass shatters but it is ok because I have a very high power vacuum. And then suddenly I wake up and realize I have fallen asleep because I was at a get together, and I am really the outlier at this thing and how do I even know these people, and I dozed off while they were talking about flower mashups or something and I say "Well I must be going, thank you, and the pasta was perfectly al dente" and I go home and I have a bit of peanut butter which I grew in my garden via the peanut seed which is quite good, which is to say, I bought a jar of peanut butter, and I pour some wine in a plastic glass which is warped because it was put in the dishwasher when it really should not have been but hey it gives it character! and I think to myself "I am so glad to not have to haggle with landscapers, due to not having a lawn to landscape" and I just be happy with life as it is & after all ~maybe it's not about making it but making the best of it~ along the way, and I go to sleep feeling very self-satisfied with my wisdom, and that is how I will know I've made it.
theartofmadeline
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