Last day of my old life

In the morning the alarm on my iPhone rings at about 5am, I usually hit snooze once or twice. Sometime later N. starts calling 'daddy' and I go to her room, pick her up, and sit with her in front of the tv to watch cartoons a little bit. K. wakes up and takes a shower while I feed J. a bottle. When K. gets out of the shower, I take a shower myself quickly, then change N., then do N's hair, and play with her a little more while her mom and brother get ready. I also make coffee, and fill up our little thermoses with pictures of ourselves on them, in preparation for the ride to work.

We bundle N. into her jacket and J. in his car seat and lug everything to the car. I buckle N. into her car seat and they drive me a few blocks to the train station. I kiss everyone goodbye and I ride the train to work, while sipping my coffee, listening to my mixes on my iPhone and reviewing my notes for this certification I've been studying for. It's taking way too long to clear this thing, but life always gets in the way - I've had a marriage, and two kids, moved to two different houses, and buried my dad along the way. We'll be moving again in a month or two, we don't even know where yet. And I start my new job next week.

I work, you know, 8 hours a day. It has not been a productive 5 years, my career has basically stagnated, and I've become lazy and unambitious. I hate that, and every time I try to break out of that mold at the job I'm told to keep doing things that are not interesting to me and that I'm doing fine (or not fine, as of late). Regardless, things have not changed at this job in a long time, and I was content to just let the situation be because I was too caught up in all the events of my personal life. This new job could be the best thing that's happened to my career in a long time. At least I'll break out of this rut that I've been in. I always believed that if I put myself in a situation where I'm forced to survive on my hard work and initiative, and I'm forced to learn and grow in order to adapt to new situations, that I would do well. Now's the time to show the world what I'm made of.

Work ends, I take the train home usually most days, while listening to my iPhone and reviewing my notes. I will be commuting even longer to my new job, it will be difficult. I'll have even more time on the train to study. Oh yeah I've been writing Android apps lately too. More on that at some other time, maybe. I walk home from the train station and my wife and kids are usually there. I play with N., watch Disney movies, push the stroller around the neighborhood, go out to eat sometimes, make dinner at home most nights. Some nights I go for a quick run, it's difficult nowadays since the weather is so cold. Around 8 we give N. and J. a bath, then I tuck N. into bed with a sippy cup of milk while I read her books until she dozes off. Then K. and I sip tea in bed and watch Hulu or a movie I downloaded, K. eventually dozes off too around 10-10:30. Then I sneak off to the living room and watch tv while I practice guitar and work on my music until I get too tired to keep my eyes open, usually around midnight, then I crawl back into bed with K. until the alarm wakes us up in the morning again.

This chapter is ending, this routine is gone, another one will take its place. We won't be living in this house in a couple of months, and life will feel different again. J. will grow up and will take more of our time. I have the opportunity now to get my career back on track. I told K. about my five year plan, she told me she thinks it's a great plan - take this contract job at XXX, take a different contract job at other fortune 500 companies every year for the next 5 years, continue to develop my skills and credentials and references - so that at the end of 5 years I'm either one of those highly paid contractor guys who works at home and makes so much money that he only has to work 6 months out of the year, or else I land my dream job at some corporation. We'll see where life takes me. If there was ever a moment to follow my passion and do something that matters to me, that moment is now. I'm going to let my love of life and learning, and my love for my family radiate in everything I do.