My american dream

Years ago, if you told me I'd be living in Oregon, waiting for my daughter to be born, remodeling a brady bunch house, and designing things out of my garage I would have been so depressed. If you told me I would also be happier than I had ever been to date I would have thanked you for your misguided prophetic attempt and assured you that you were crazy. I would have told you that wasn't the plan. The plan involved being a hotshot director, young rising start, too talented to deal with all the politics of Hollywood. The next David Fincher. that only works for so long, eventually politics gets everyone. 

It took a couple years to realize what the real cost of success in Hollywood was. It's funny, sometimes something that feels like failure is really saving your life. Or making it. It's been a long road to get where I find myself now. But somehow it feels like just the beginning.

We all have our own version of the American dream. What we hope to make out of ourselves. Mine has changed a lot over the years. The life I was once dreamed for myself makes me cringe now. The older I get, the more I realize what really matters.

These days, it's the simple things that bring me contentment. I can work with my hands and make things I'm proud to stand behind. I don't have to make the same thing over and over again. I can spend time with my wife and daughter, because we share an office. I don't have to wear a suit and tie or shave and if I wanted I could get a neck tattoo. All in all life is pretty good. I can honestly say that I don't miss the celebrities and posh nightclubs.  Now I have barn wood and baby bottles. No regrets here.