I admit it took me a while to recover from the wedding,

but eventually life got back to normal, which is exactly the way I prefer life to be.

After the dust settled, I began to realize what a lucky guy I was.

I had a wonderful home filled with memories,

and completely paid for;

a wife I love just as much as the day I married her;

a daughter, independent, self-sufficient,

married, working, happy;

a son blossoming in the middle of middle school;

and a son-in-law gainfully employed,

and very often, out of town on business.

Life was sweet.

I felt for the first time ahead of the game.

Then it dawned on me.

I was a mere five years away from freedom.

Soon I'd be a father with one kid married and the other off in college.

And that started me thinking.

What was I gonna do with all that free time?

Anything I wanted.

Maybe I'd take up fly-fishing,