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Chasing anonymity.

Posted July 22, 2008

Currently, I'm unemployed.

My wife earns most of the money. She's alot more in demand than I am.

Ask me if I care. Oh, sure, alot of people scoff. They're not important.

I find that pleasing those who demand it most is impossible. They always want more. More money, status, notoriety, etc. etc. etc.

That's why it's called the "rat race".

I'm glad I see through it.

After all, I was taught to see through it.

I had very good parents, and a story to illustrate how they lived their priorities out in front of me:

My Dad made alot of money. My Mom didn't have to work.

Early on, Dad was hand-picked to join a handful of other young, intelligent, and otherwise attractive "wunderkind" on the fast-track to corporate stardom. Dad was set for the big time. Everything was working out for him and his young family, among whom included me, his infant boy.

And then one day, the promotion he had been waiting for landed in his lap. We were set to move to Sunoco's Corporate HQ in Philadelphia, where Dad was to join the ranks of the elite. Our ship had come in.

And then Dad told them "No".

He walked away from all that. The validation. The heavy-hitting job title. The status. The money and the vacation home.

He stayed in Texas, and toiled away in relative obscurity. Oh, his career still flourished. The Lord blessed my Dad, His faithful servant.

We never wanted for anything financially. Dad was good, very, very good at his job, and the cream always rises.

But the key to the whole story is that when push came to shove, and the hard choices had to be made, Dad chose us. He chose his family.

As a result, I learned how to be a man from an actual man. Not from the TV or somewhere else. I learned it from my Dad, because he was there.

When I was about 25, I asked him why he had passed on the Philadelphia promotion. Why he had chosen mediocrity and anonymity. We could have been rich! We would have had status!

He just laughed and said "Yeah, we would have had all that stuff. And yes, I chose anonymity. And I'd do it again tomorrow, because saying 'No' to them meant I was saying 'Yes' to you."

I'm glad he chose anonymity, because I'm choosing the same.

Someday I'll get to tell Ella why I dropped everything to try my hand at writing. Why I checked out of the rat-race in exhange for the chance to be at home with her and her Mom for a while.

My former boss doesn't think much of me. But, my wife and daughter do.

Take a wild guess which one keeps me up at night.

Because, in these past few weeks of "anonymity", I've made memories of "my girls" that I'll cherish for a lifetime. Times with Ella sitting at my feet while I type a story, or send a resume. Times with my young bride, talking, learning, and dreaming together. Times like that are the ones no amount of money could ever buy.

So if you're reading this and contemplating the fact that all the stuff and the cash and the job title just isn't worth it, you're probably right. It probably isn't.

Start chasing your kids around the back yard more, and the butt of the rat in front of you less.

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