Hyperbole

This one has been sitting in the hopper for awhile... time to finish it:

I know who I am, I make choices based on my values, and I make no apologies for the choices I've made.

At least, those were (paraphrased) the parting words from a friend of mine as I was preparing to leave my company's post-holiday party. I was preparing to leave because I needed to get home to help prepare for my son's birthday party the following day. That was the sort of choice he was referring to – I have chosen to put my family first, to leave a clean life, and to uphold my personal integrity.
(He went on to assert how much he respected me for these things, and also for my abilities as a Software Engineer, which I discovered the other day are a bit rusty.)

The hard part of all of this is that there are often undesirable by-products of the decisions we make, and that it is incumbent upon us to accept those things. For example, as a result of choosing to buy a house (and therefore, moving further away from work to a more affordable neighborhood) I now spend more time on the roads than I ever have before. This is a trade-off – one I am learning to accept. But I'd make the same decision over again if faced with it. I put my family's needs first.

This entry doesn't feel done, but I'm going to post it anyway.