the happiness of pursuit

"here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete. if you're alive, it isn't."

(lauren bacall)

last week i finished reading the happiness of pursuit and it was so, so good.

the author, chris guillebeau, traveled to every country in the world (there are 193 of them in case you are curious) before he was 35. as it says in the book cover, "everywhere that chris visited he found ordinary people working towards extraordinary goals, making daily down payments on their dreams."

you know i love stories, and i love people following their dreams, so this one was a win win for me.

in addition to chris's own story, the other stories shared are so damn interesting.

walk across the united states. circumnavigate the world's oceans on a 38-foot sailboat as the world's youngest sailor. take, edit, and publish one million photos. run 250 marathons in a single year. set the world for the most sighted birds. lead an epic battle to return alaska's newspaper to the poeple of alaska. cook a meal from every country in the world. on and on. all amazing.

what i found equally interesting as much as the quests was the reasons behind them, including the ones where there was no specific reason other than they felt that it was just something that they had to do.

i got the chance last week to listen to the author talk and meet him in person. it was so great to hear how his quest came about, and how he ended up making this book something different than a memoir focused on how he traveled the world. how he was inspired to learn about what made other people pursue their own quests, and then how they go on "after the summit is climbed, the painting hung, the endurance records broken, the at-risk community saved."

this is one of the books that i will write a note in for malena and hope that someday she loves reading it as much as i did. i want her to remember through the words in this book that she can pursue anything and everything that she wants to, if for no other reason than her heart telling her it is the right thing for her.

i can't wait to see what adventures come her way.

getting to be her mom will always be my favorite one.