For years, there was always something I was working toward. The promotion. The bigger account. The next position.
When things got busy, I told myself it was temporary.
After this project. After the end of the year. After the next promotion.
My wife stopped waiting for me to come home for dinner. I missed school plays, birthdays, weekends away. Eventually the kids stopped asking whether I could come.
But the work paid off.
I got the promotions. We bought a nice house. I made more money than I ever expected to make.
Last year, I finally reached the position I’d been working toward for almost twenty years. My wife and I went out to celebrate.
At dinner, she asked me what I wanted to do now.
I started telling her about the next position.
She looked at me for a moment.
“No. I mean with your life.”
I didn’t know what to say.