As Good As it Gets

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I absolutely loved that movie with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. Yet I loved it for a very different reason than everyone else.

If you remember right, Nicholson was a professional writer who was very set in his ways. Actually he was borderline psychotic. Problem is, I saw myself in his character.

I have all of my CD's set in order of favorite artists. When we take a trip, I have the songs ready to go. It doesn't matter what anyone else might want to hear, I try and set the mood.

I am extremely regimented and if something throws me off schedule for the day, I become a bit edgy. And yet, I was saved from a life of living like Nicholson did - only by children and the general chaos that comes with having a family.

Those around me have learned to accept my shortcomings, and my wife actually plays right into it, reminding me if there is an unwashed dish in the sink or a full laundry basket.

I suppose the point of the whole blog today is to understand that I could have been Nicholson, and I could have turned off the entire world. The reason I bring it up is because my 7-year-old is showing a lot of the same signs. He filled out five NCAA brackets already and he is ready to geek out, circling teams with me until all of the games are done.

Hopefully he will understand that life doesn't have to be a perfectly regimented repeat of the same exact routine. Then again, his drive to have everything just so - will probably make him crazy for a lot of years to come.

In the end, though, there are days when I am able to understand that this is as good as it gets.

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