Agreed. I've worked many days of long hours, and like many of those with a creative/programmer/entrepreneurial bent, my work and drive consumes me, far beyond 8

Agreed. I've worked many days of long hours, and like many of those with a creative/programmer/entrepreneurial bent, my work and drive consumes me, far beyond 8-5. But the reality is that work and projects come and go - I can, and will, always make more - but my family will not come and go and the rewards of a lifetime of shared history and experiences are truly impossible to build without years of serious commitment. As I look around today, I'm not working on what I was working on five years ago. I'm not working on what I was ten years ago. But my family is the same family. My daughter is barreling towards college and my wife and I have a few more grey hairs, but we're all still here. Most projects have been completed, faded into digital dust in my mind and I've kept on going. But my family and the life I built outside of those projects is constant. I know this only comes as the wisdom of age, but every time I hear about startup culture I snicker. Because in reality I pound out work. A lot of work. A TON of work. I take pride in the fact that I smoke young kids and their recently acquired ruby skills or whatever they have. And I get home by 5:30 on most days, too.