The Best Wife in the World

I have the best wife in the world. Sorry fellas, but I found her and she's mine.

Let me back up a little. I am 25 years old, nearly 2 years out of college, and working at a good job in my field. I started college in 2000 and earned a degree in mechanical engineering in 2006. While going to school, I took a couple years to do a co-op (a fancy word for working in my field, getting paid, and getting school credit at the same time) halfway through, and learned quite a bit about the corporate world, office politics, and engineering in general.

After graduating in 2006, I was quickly hired by the company I currently work for. They pay me a decent salary, I don't have to work absurd hours like many other new engineers, and the environment is pretty relaxed. I should be happy with all this, right?

Maybe so, but for some reason I never have been. I'm still not really sure what it is, but working for someone else, being a wage-slave, has always made me feel claustrophobic. In school I rebelled against learning what other people said was important when it was clearly less important than they let on. I had such a hard time feeling motivated by external forces like grades, approval of my professors, etc.

I thought that the problem was school. Maybe I just wasn't made for the academic world. I need to be more hands-on. I need what I do to matter and to be real. I need to graduate and get a real job in the real world. Then I'll be happy.

It kinda felt that way for a little while. I liked not having to study, I liked having my evenings and weekends truly free. I liked getting paid.

In the beginning I was enthusiastic, motivated, and high-energy. I was hired by a company that values independence, self-initiative, and bottom-up innovation. That sounded great! I soon realized, however, that as much as they were trying to be different than all the other companies out there, they were still fundamentally the same. There is still a huge gap between ownership and labor, both from a creative and rewards perspective.

Anyway, back to the whole point of this little peek into my psyche: my wife has listened to be struggle about these things for years. She's heard me dream of a better life, my own business, freedom from the traditional "job". I'm sure at times it's gotten to the "ad nauseum" point. But she's always been there with an encouraging word.

She said two things to me yesterday that really stopped me in my tracks, and totally humbled me. First, she said she has been praying that I would find my direction as far as my job, and what my goals are for my future career. I never asked her to do this. She has been interceding for me without me even knowing it. Wow.

Second, she said that she has been really impressed by how much I've thrown myself into this project, and how much sweat I've been putting into it. I didn't even know she was paying attention! She's got her own stresses, what with preparing to graduate from medical school, and I just assumed my latest project (this business idea) wasn't even on her radar.

Despite all thing things going on in her own professional life right now, she has been the perfect helpmeet without me even realizing it.

Thank you, love!