When you spend a significant portion of your childhood being raised by television, you develop a unique picture of how life works. Life has its challenges, but nothing that can’t be resolved in 30 minutes with a heavy dose of good old-fashioned family values. In the reality of television there exists a clearly defined sense of right and wrong, and lives pretty much follow standard formulas. When situations do stray from the norm, it is always a good opportunity for everyone to learn an important life lesson, and have a few laughs.

Needless to say, it ain’t so.

Life isn’t at all like what I was taught as an impressionable youth. That truth has been drilled repeatedly into my consciousness this year. Even if I wanted to ignore it or deny it, I just can’t anymore. I have to stand up and face that life is not what I imagined it to be.

I think the greatest surprise for me is the myriad of unexpected challenges life has thrown at me. I didn’t expect life to be easy, but I didn’t expect it to be this hard. this unexpected. this challenging.

And thank god it is.

…it’s hard to stay mad when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst… And then I remember to relax and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.
– Lester Burnham from American Beauty