The Life Of Crazy People

I think I live the life of a crazy person. Luckily, my wife is too, so at least I don’t feel alone.

I am twenty six. Unbelievably young by some standards. But also old enough to have two kids and a mortgage by now. Heck, if I lived in the middle ages, I’d be middle aged. Every single one of my friends are doing the smart thing. They have normal, steady jobs. They are buying homes and building equity. They are starting families, and boy, are babies cute. They enjoy the finer things in life, like air conditioning, fireplaces, and cable TV.

My wife and I enjoy none of these things, and there are two possible explanations for this. Either we are sacrificing admirably in a passionate pursuit of our dreams, or we are crazy people. And believe me, sometimes I wonder. We basically live on Kim’s teaching salary, which is surprisingly nothing to brag about, especially with a district-wide pay cut this year.

I have a degree in Illustration; surely I could attain a nice staff design job somewhere and finally the days of Kraft macaroni and cheese in a box would be gone forever! But we decide two years ago that I should pursue “Kim & Jason” full time, for that was the only way to get it off the ground. And that is what the Dream required of us.

Two years later, and I can’t believe how far we’ve come, but sometimes it seems like it would be a lot easier (and saner) if we traded it in for the safe job and the two weeks paid vacation. Kim and I want to have kids, and as any young couple who’ve been married for more than a year know, there is a lot of external pressure to get crankin’. I can’t wait for the day when I can put my creativity to use video taping my kids jumping into leaves, and teaching them how to use the sharpener on the back of the Crayola box.

But the idea of having kids has been pushed off for now – and for who knows how long. My Dad always said that although he and my Mom didn’t have extra money to invest in the stock market, they viewed their kids as their biggest investment. I always thought that was pretty neat. I guess in a way, while all our friends are investing in homes and building equity for themselves, Kim and I are investing in our future, building equity in our dream, and hopefully paving the way to an opportunity to make a real difference.

One thing our life is not is ordinary. But I don’t think I’d trade this life in for an ordinary one. I haven’t yet. I know I’m supposed to be doing “Kim & Jason.” I know it’s making a tiny difference – at least to a few people. Fortunately, there is no one who believes that more than Kim. But on a weekly basis, we wonder to ourselves if we truly are indeed crazy. In a recent advertising campaign from Apple Computer, a favorite company of mine, the following statement was made: “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Well, here’s to the crazy ones. And here’s hoping that I’m crazy enough.