So I'm getting out of the rat race

Will: The Insanity of College Admissions

 

Dick-
When you lose friends who are age contemporaries, leaving behind young children of their own, you see what crap the rat race is.
At some point I just sort of realized I'd rather play boardgames with my kids than compete with some asshole who literally has no life.

 

My friend's wife died at age 40 in February, unexpectedly. There is a thread about it somewhere. Never had kids because it would have slowed her down too much. Granted, she was heavily involved in helping others. But still, it was the latest wake-up call.

Last summer, when the work was so heavy, and I took that trip to urgent care, I was also experiencing a lot of, "What if I dropped dead today and this is what I wasted my time on?" feelings.

 

Ambition won't hug you at bedtime.

 

My problem is that I wasted my prime ambition years (as is true for a lot of us here), my 20s without children, on a career I abandoned. Don't get me wrong. I would very much like to be wealthy and financially secure. Maybe, somehow, I still will be. But it wasn't going to happen grinding it out year after year at a big city law firm.

 

I've done well enough with my investments by anticipating the exact opposite of Ragu's forecasts that I'm considering retiring a couple years sooner.

 

Want to see the other side? Listen to "Cats in the Cradle" again; that song struck me hard when I was younger and I vowed never to be that father to my kids.

Now, I've missed a couple of things but I love doing things with my family and this weekend my 15 yr, when asked what are my favorite things to do, he said #1 for me was "doing family stuff." (over golf and hoops.) I melted.

 

Are there any law jobs where your day is basically preparing a couple of wills, handling a couple of patent or copyright requests and handling a real estate closing? I could do that. Anything else, forget it.

 

Just have to figure out a way to pay for law school. Noticed Jim Carty is a Assistant U.S. Attorney. Not a bad gig. I also believe he had a scholarship to Toledo, but don't know if it was full or partial.

 

Me too. Doesn't matter. You're in a good place now.

If you'd gone to law school out of college, your whole life is different, and not necessarily for the better.

I thought I'd be rich by thirty. Didn't happen, but I have no regrets, because I'm right where I want to be.

My only fear is being too old to be there for my daughter.

 

My father-in-law does nothing but real estate closings. He's not even a lawyer. Get his gig.

 

This is why we have a generation of coddled, spoiled, shiftless young people.