Wow dude, congrats.
I turned 50 this year and still working as hard as ever.
When I really feel stressed and I am hating work, I step back and remember that I actually probably work 6 hours/week so there isn't really a need to stop doing it.
One of my new riding buddies asked me if I "work" and I said yes but I have a system that allows me to fit in riding. He asked me to explain:
The day 1-7 of each month- it's too early to tell if I will hit quota so I am available to ride anytime.
Day 8-15 of each month- just doesn't matter to me as I either had a first good week or I can scramble the last 15 days of the month so sure I can ride.
Day 16-30 of each month- it's the end of the month, I can't change anything at this point so I can go ride
LOL, see when I work I WORK, moving boilers, lifting 20ft lengths of 6" steel sched. 80, ect.. And I did my share, Tonight at dinner a few of our close friends joined us and the toast given by a long time friend of mine was "when ever I think "wow I worked hard today" the memory of Irv coming home from a 16 hour shift at 10pm and taking a 15 minute shower while shoveling wet soap covered protein bars down his throat so he could get back out to work flashes through my brain and I remember I never worked a day in my life"...
That was from my buddy Dee, we have been friends for a long time, one day about 10 years ago, he followed me home from a red light, he pulled up to my house right behind me, I of course invited him in and my wife and kids were sleeping it was around 9-10pm, and we were about 25 years old, he was going to a bar to get a few drinks and I was getting home from working at my regular job, he followed me in the house , talking as I walked through the living room, I went into the kitchen and grabbed 3 protein bars, unwrapped them and started blasting them into my body as talking to him. He followed me to the bathroom door, I walked in stripped down jumped in the shower while eating the protein bars, washed up, and then exited the shower, through some clean clothes on and he followed me back out to my truck, where I told him to have a good time and tell everyone I said "hi", I went back to work on a "side job" I was doing until 4 am. I remember than day because he loves to tell that story, I can home around 5 am and slept for around 3 hours, was back in work at my regular job for 8am and worked until 1pm to do it all over again...
My wife stood up tonight at the table and thanked me for the years of 90 hour work weeks I did, I am not too manly to admit I felt that tingle in my nose like my eyes were going to tear up, I honestly feel like tonight made it all worth it, I thought it was going to be dinner for me and my family, when I got there it was a party of 16!!!! It made me feel like the years of not seeing my kids hold the spoon on their own for the first time, missing all the other firsts, like first day of school, first words, first steps, first everything was not a waste, the back breaking work I did to build what I sold for 3.8 million dollars today meant something!!! I had a little too much to drink tonight but I got it, and tonight made me feel a lot better about the life I carved out for my family... Just when I thought I was less of a person for not being around they made it all worth it...
Life is good, live it while its in your reach... it's 2:30 am here and I am all revved up, I am going to go down stairs and work out for an hour so I may be able to get some sleep tonight.... good night AH friends...
