10 Things I Envy of Other People

I like trying out new ideas and looking for the rarer of perspectives.  That usually pushes me in the direction of provocateur.  I had it in my head today to write a list of what I'm jealous about in contrast with the innumerable "what I'm thankful for" lists out there.  But then it occurred to me to ask: what's the difference between jealousy and envy?

If you ever wondered, this article is great at explaining it.  So let me correct myself.

I've set out to write a list of what I'm envious of.  Because with all the urging to keep things positive on the interwebs, sometimes you just want to get a few things off your chest.

10 Things I Envy of Other People

1. People with more than one child.  I always wanted more than one.
2. Folks in the Bay Area who've been able to buy a house, whether their parents helped them or they simply make ungodly amounts of money.  I've moved something like 9 times in the past 13 years.  I'm a little road weary.
3. Those freakin' Silicon Valley 20-somethings who cash out on their startups' IPO, because those people can really believe in dreams and breakthroughs and all things aspirational.  They're living the dream that only one in 500 million can live, but still carry the delusion that it's hard work and smarts instead of luck that pays off.
4. Gals who learned how to manage their weight early in life, as I struggle to understand food and drink and exercise in my later 30s.  (I was a skinny girl in my youth, and now I'm a fattish girl in my adulthood.)
5. People who really know how to write.  And I don't mean people who have the skill, but people who have the discipline to do it every day, rain or shine, elation or depression, fact or fiction, truth or dare.
6. Folks who can draw or paint or sculpt.  I'm such a visual person, a visual thinker, that it maddens me that words and shapes are basically my only tools.
7. (only sometimes)  People with little ambition.  Because when you do have ambition, like me, life is fraught with this constant drive to keep scanning the horizon for what's next, what's better.  It makes being present a whole lot harder.
8. Couples whose marriages have lasted.  Mine died a few years ago, and although I intend to join the married couple club again in the future, divorce makes life seem stranger and less certain.
9. I envy, or maybe it's more like miss, my 20-something self.  Life looked so much more amazing, chalk full of possibility and wonder.  I miss being able to revel in the ideas of things that could be, rather than contending with how the things really are.  Sometimes delusion is beautiful.
10. People who can drink caffeine in the late afternoon and sleep at night.  I love tea, a proper cup, with freshly boiled water and sugar and milk.  And it would be lovely to actually take tea at tea time (4pm)!

Well.  I hope this has been enjoyable.  What are YOU envious of?