How do you feel successful?

Jay and I had a conversation yesterday about how each individual is different when it comes to feeling successful at life. Every person has multiple facets in life: social life, spiritual life, financial life, etc. But we all want to be a success. We all want to show that we are successful to the world. Jay and I are very different when it comes to success. What brought up the subject is Jay loves toys... By toys, I mean cars, bikes, boats, big house, basically the material signs of success. I think a lot of men are that way, at least a lot of my friends spouses feel the same. I just don't think that way. I don't want a lot of junk to lay around the house looking shiny and unused. I don't want a big house to have to keep clean and organized. This differences is one of the few things that Jay and I don't agree on in life. It comes up more often than it should.

So I decided to figure out what makes me feel successful. I guess, what makes me feel a success isn't something anyone but me can feel. I really don't care what other people see most of the time, (as anyone that has seen me on Saturday morning in a grocery store can attest too.) What makes me feel successful is a project done well but completed, and children that have grown up to be successful mature adults. What makes me feel successful is the experiences I have had traveling to: India, London, Japan, Oregon, NYC and Washington DC. These are all places I have read about but never dreamed as a teenager I would actually experience for myself. And other experiences as well:

• Creating a family that has lasted 20 years and counting.....
• Seeing my newborn children for the very first time, knowing God has entrusted these little miracles to me.
• Watching each of them struggle to learn to walk, to talk, to read, to swim, and to actually master it all.
• Taking on something that is really scary to me and actually making it through the experience. (Standing in front of an audience, moving to a new environment away from all I have known, etc.)

I guess it could be a sign of growing old (hey, each of these wrinkles were earned over the years) but material stuff just doesn't cut it to me.... They are fun for a while but after a time, it is the experiences we have with the material toy that make me feel successful.