This book is my life...or what I wish my life was.

I just finished reading a book that my dear best friend recommended to me.  After judging a book by its cover and all, I knew exactly why.  The book is called "What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: a Memoir," by TV sitcom writer Kristin Newman and on the cover is a photo of the view out of an airplane window.  In a 50 words or less description, it is a true story about this woman who said "hell no" to the norms of society and lived essentially exactly how I would love to live my life.  She worked her sitcom writing job nine months of the year and traveled during the other three. (uh..hello? Teacher life..I have three months "off"! Now if only I had the salary she had...)  She did not feel the need to settle down and get married and have children in her third decade (cough cough me cough cough) but took that time to travel, with friends, but also by herself (no one understands why I want to do this...READ THIS BOOK!!)  Anyways, I just wanted to record a few (okay, maybe a few more than a few) of my favorite quotes/moments from this book because as a writer, she is SO much better and putting into words the thoughts that have been swirling around in my head for as long as I can remember.

"I always loved to do the thing you're supposed to do in the place you're supposed to do it." (page 4)

"One of my dad's best pieces of parenting advice had been very simple: wait.  He didn't tell me to abstain from sex and drugs forever, which I'm sure would have made me try everything immediately.  He just told me to take a beat, watch my friends try things out, learn what to do and what not to do based on their mistakes and triumphs, and then try out what I was going to try." (page 16)

"Getting married young is gambling on a game you don't know how to play.  You don't know who either of you is going to become.  If you get married before you are fully cooked, you have no idea if you are marrying someone who will ultimately become compatible with you." (page 27)

"Marriage is a limiter.  It limits your freedom, and it limits your capacity to follow your dreams.  If you do make the mistake of growing while married, your marriage will end." (page 27)

"You say yes because it is the only way to really experience another place, and let it change you." (page 61)

"...something deep within me was screaming that I wasn't ready to be half of a whole.  I was about to be having too much fun." (page 75)

"We sat over the river and talked about how the river had become something unique and amazing just by cruising along on its path.  How even if your life seemed quiet and typical, you never knew if around the next bend you were about to become something spectacular." (page 94)

"But let's be honest: if you don't ever lose yourself, it means you're not entirely in the game." (page 206)

"And if you can somehow remember that all of life, and every relationship, is going to end, man, every moment becomes sweet." (page 284)

I had a hard time finishing this book.  By hard time, I mean I saw that there was one chapter left and had to put it down because I wasn't ready for it to be over.  It's one of those books that makes you feel like you're actually on an adventure to all of the places it talks about (Israel, Russia, New Zealand, Argentina, etc, etc, etc.)  I just wanted to buy a plane ticket to pretty much anywhere and set out to explore.  Unfortunately my massive debt that calls itself "student loans" and the fact that I am still waiting impatiently for my "grown up job" prevents this from happening at the current moment. So for now I am just being thankful for my two month excursion in Costa Rica this past fall and making a mental list of everywhere else I have yet to see.