a pivotal moment in my life

I was pretty happy with my life, my wife was not.
我对自己的生活很满意，我妻子却不是。

What she saw was a college dropout who spent much time in the mountains doing foolish things.
她看到的是一个大学辍学生，他花了很多时间在山里做蠢事。

She wanted me to work full time as a computer programmer or go back to college and finish my degree.
她想让我全职做计算机程序员，或者回到大学完成我的学位。

We compromised sort of.
我们妥协了。

I started taking classes at UC Berkeley.
我开始在加州大学伯克利分校上课。

I took several classes, but the only one I can remember was a sailing class taught in Berkeley Marina.
我上过几节课，但我唯一记得的是伯克利码头教的帆船课。

Once again I fell in love and began a life-long affair with the limitless, omnipotent Pacific Ocean.
我再次坠入爱河，开始了与无边无际、无所不能的太平洋的终身恋情。

When my class was over. I want to buy a sailboat.
当我的课结束的时候。我想买一艘帆船。

My wife said this was the single stupidest idea she had ever heard in her entire life.
我妻子说这是她一生中听过的最愚蠢的想法。

She accused me of being irresponsible and she told me that I lacked ambition.
她指责我不负责任，并告诉我我缺乏抱负。

She kicked me out and then she divorced me.
她把我赶出去，然后和我离婚了。

This was a pivotal moment in my life（这老哥嘴角上扬了，同时台下一片笑声。）.
这是我生命中的关键时刻.

My family was still mad at me for not going to medical school. And now my wife was divorcing me because I lacked ambition.
我的家人仍然因为我没上医学院而生我的气。现在我妻子要和我离婚，因为我缺乏野心。

It looked like a recurrence of the same old problem.
这看起来像是老问题的复发。

Once again, I was unable to live up to the expectations of others.
再一次，我无法满足别人的期望。

But this time I was pretty happy with my life. I was not disappointed in myself for failing to be the person they thought I should be.
但这次我对自己的生活很满意。我并没有因为自己没有成为他们认为我应该成为的人而感到失望。

Their dreams and my dreams were different.

I would never confuse the two of them again.

I had discovered things I loved: the Sierras , Yosemite, the Pacfic Ocean.
我发现了我喜欢的东西：塞拉山脉、优胜美地、太平洋。

These natural wonders brought me great joy and happiness and would for the rest of my life.
这些自然奇观给我带来了巨大的快乐和幸福，并将伴随我的余生。

I had an interesting job programming computers and more money than I needed.
我有一份有趣的工作，为电脑编程，而且比我需要的钱还多。

For the first time, I was certain that I was going to survive in this world.
我第一次确信自己会在这个世界上生存下来。

A huge burden of fear had been lifed. I'll never forget that moment. It was a time for rejoicing.
巨大的恐惧负担已经减轻。我永远不会忘记那一刻。这是一个欢庆的时刻。

I bought the sailboat and lived onboard just me and my cat in Berkeley Marina.

In the words of James Joyce: I was alone, and young and willful and unheeded, but I was happy and near to the wild heart of life.