is a rough road better than no road at all?

Hi Kip,

One of my oldest and only friends in the world just had his son delivered. He's a premie, born at about six months. He's pretty happy, all things considered. I guess they're at the beginning of a long road, in a lot of ways, but it's good there's a road to travel sometimes. That's what I think now that I'm writing to you, anyway, Kip.

Days like these, Kip, I get to thinking that maybe I should have done something else with my life. Not that I hate my job, but wouldn't it be nice to do something that you get at least a little bit excited about? I don't feel that way a lot of the time, and life's short and all, right? What's your advice about that?

I get to thinking, too, though, that why does everybody think they deserve to be happy? I don't think there's much to that, feeling some sense of entitlement to happiness. I'd like to ask your dad about that, Kip. I'd feel stupid even saying it to him, but some part of me thinks that his answer would be instructive.

But say you couldn've made a living with art, if that was your gig? Do you think you would have been happy? Would I be happy tinkering with Macs or writing if I could do it every day? Who knows, right?