Death and Taxes

It's weird what goes through your head when you're calculating your worth to the government. Somehow I went from itemized deductions to, what is happiness?

We spend our time going to and from work, work that while we hope is meaningful, many days is not. We spend time agonizing over stupid petty things. Put the hours in. Bring home the bacon. Cook it. Maybe a little Heroes and Daily Show and it starts all over again.

Which made me think about my sister.

Carolla, who died from cancer in 2004, knew from the get-go office life wasn’t for her. In college she and her best friend ran a nonprofit art gallery. After college they started their own business. It didn’t make a killing, but it paid the bills. It wasn’t about the money, Carolla told me, but about doing what she loved, living the life she wanted.

She made it look easy, but it’s harder than it looks.