With school out for summer, I've been busy entertaining the kids at home all day every day. Today was somewhat rainy, so we were stuck inside watching movies and playing games. Christian wanted to play a "board game" - the Game of Life - which used to be a board game, but is now an app on his and Tea's iPads… I know, my head almost exploded too at the knowledge that not only is this classic game an iPad app, but also that 11- and 6-year-olds have iPads (call me old-fashioned, but I think it's pretty ridiculous that young kids - and even babies - are more likely to be found absorbed in expensive technology than playing with other kids). Anyway, I was psyched to play since it was one of my favorite games when I was younger. As a kid, playing Life is exciting because it lets you experience growing up - something that seems so far off in the future and unreachable - getting married, buying houses, having kids, and racking up money until retirement.

This time I hated playing the Game of Life. And not just because it was on an iPad.

In this Life, no one wants to go to college because it means you're moving too slowly. The only job option I had was to be a Salesperson. Even when I lost that job and went back to night school with the chance to choose a Good Job, my only options were to be a Lawyer or a Doctor - neither of which I would ever go near in real life because they are jobs that take up almost all of your time and energy. I immediately got married, bought a house, filled my car with virtual pink and blue plastic babies, and had zero choices along the way. Every other turn, I was suing my friends or getting sued. For me, the best parts of the game were when I landed on a Life Tile that told me I'd visited the Great Wall of China, and when I came to a fork in the road and had to choose to Take the Risky Path or continue on the Safe Path of Life. I chose the Risky Path, of course.

In the end, I didn't win Life because I didn't live fast enough, I didn't have the most expensive house, and I didn't make the most money. That's complete bullshit if you ask me.

Even though it was just a kids' game, Life made me really frustrated. I kept thinking about how I really couldn't picture myself getting married or having kids or any sort of conventional career. I've expressed that to people before and they usually tell me it's because I'm too young - those feelings will change when I get older. But I see people my age and younger who are settling down, getting engaged, married, kids on the way. It's not that I'm too young to be thinking that way, it's just that I don't feel like a traditional lifestyle is for me. I don't want to continue on that Safe Path of Life that will get me to the finish line the fastest. I have no desire to have the biggest, most expensive house. I don't want the most high-paying job that everyone envies. I don't care about having enough money to retire at Millionaire Estates. For me, collecting the Life Tiles, the experiences, is what is most important.

The Game of Life would tell me I'm losing right now, taking me sweet old time - I have no place of my own, no serious relationship, and the little money I'm making is immediately spent on travel. But I could not be happier choosing that Risky Path over and over again. If I lived the way Life told me to live, I would be miserable. I would have "things," but none of it would be valuable to me. My life is an adventure, and while what I have cannot be measured in dollar signs, it is more than I could ever ask for. I wouldn't be happier any other way

If you ask me, I think I'm coming in first by a mile.