I hope that whatever vocation you choose, it allows you to have a splendid life too.
Isn’t that our goal – to find work that puts food on the table, and fulfills our purpose and at the same time?
I realize that not everything works out how we want it to (I am speaking vocationally here.).
But through the ups and downs, I hope you find meaning and joy outside of the traditional success or failure your job can bring.
What are you going to do with this one wild and precious life?
Here McMurtry is referring to writer Donald Barthelme…
I saw him once more, at a Texas Institute of Letters banquet where he was given a Life Achievement award—it was richly deserved, in my view. He said that night that writing had enabled him to have a splendid life—and so it has for me as well.
-Larry McMurtry, Literary Life (Amazon)