Most Likely to Succeed

In high school, during my senior year, I was awarded with it.
Looking back, I find it humorous. I mean, what is success and how can you judge it? For me, I feel extremely successful in my life. But, I am not normal. I do not judge my success by society's "typical" standards.
For instance, as a young girl, I didn't envision or plan my wedding day. Instead, I thought I would be an attorney. I didn't see myself with the picket fence, two kids and a two car garage. I thought I would be living in a loft in a city, working, financially set and on my way to an early retirement.
College started the transition. I waited on too many attorneys that were miserable human beings. I know that is a blanket, generalized, terrible statement, but I met several while attending KU. They all seemed so stressed out, incapable of simple joy and so I decided to pursue a degree in history. I graduated and again, felt restless with what I should be doing.
I dreamt of travel. I planned a trip to Greece and intended to backpack for 6 months. I packed my car and drove my nissan back to Lawrence, KS. My sister, Michaela, agreed to let me keep my car in front of her house while I was gone. I thought I would have an amazing experience and possibly remain abroad. 9/11 happened and altered my course.
The GABF was in Denver in 2001, over my birthday. I convinced my friend, Jan, from Phoenix, to visit me in Kansas and we drove to Denver. I ended up falling in love in my first year in Denver. I have been here since.
So, success to me is travel, food, wine, spending time with friends and family. I don't know if I will ever be conventional under society's guidelines. I don't know if marriage will ever be in my vocabularly and I do not apologize for that. Brian and I were married in every sense of the word. We didn't have the documentation to accompany it, though. We were happy and successfull in our lives.
His mom says success is happiness of the heart. I would agree with her. If your heart is happy, then that is all one can ask for. Lately, I have felt stirrings of happiness in my life.
Success, for me, is not about money, or how much you have, or what you own. I loved the movie, American Beauty. It ememplified how wrong materical ownership is.
I am happy. I do need to downsize and declutter. I feel travel in my blood.
What is success to you? Are you successful in your life?