my question....

William said something to me the other day that got me thinking. He told me "You don't worry about anything because you're so fucked up that if you did, you'd be institutionalized within the week."
This statement is completely inaccurate. (And most likely taken a bit out of context) But it did get me thinking....
When I was a child, my father used to ask me "what do you know for sure?"
This question is unfair to pose to a child, but is one that I have always remembered.
On my 18th birthday, I was hospitalized with shingles. (A very painful form of adult chicken pox for those of you who don't know.) My doctor told me I'd never fully recover.
Two weeks later I was sitting in a bar drinking fuzzy navels.
These two things played a huge factor in the way I am today.
Today, I know for sure that life is short, worrying is wasteful, and so is sadness. I know that I will not be happy at forty if I play it safe and end up with a big house and lovely husband, but no real memories or experiences.
I know I almost lost my life before I knew what it meant to live, and lying in that hospital years back, I felt regret. I felt fear of dying without ever knowing, seeing and doing everything I could.
I know that life has its ups and downs, life will hurt and life will heal, you just have to let it.
I know humans are just that. They will leave, they will die, they will love and they will hate. But I also know there are a few who will be there to pick you up when you fall, and save you when you can't save yourself, and those are the people I surround myself with.
I know it is better to smile at life’s mishaps than to cry over them. You are who you are because of what happens to you.
I know that I could sit here forever and answer this question my father asked me once upon a time, but I won't. It is enough for me to know there are a million things I have yet to learn, and I just hope I get the chance to learn them the hard way. Because really, do you ever learn anything any other way?