[rileyteige]

I'm doing OK, my job/clients are great, but every day I can't help feeling like all I'm doing is making rich people richer. I'd like to do something real. Even contemplating a career change down the road once our savings/investments are in a good long-term spot. My wife and I are planning to start having kids in the next year or two so we'll see how that changes things.

I miss my old friends; wife is a doctor (resident) and due to that we've had to move multiple times across the country in support of her education (grew up on the west coast, now living midwest eastern time zone). The new friends I make here just aren't as fulfilling.

That said, as a tangent since I see so many people here mentioning their remote work, I've been doing that myself full-time for most of the past 5 years and it has been an absolute godsend. Don't ever plan on going back. Thanks to the flexibility afforded by remote work, I've been able to e.g. get my airplane pilot/flight instructor certificates, as well as start training our 1.5-yr-old dog (and myself) in Agility. I would not have had the time (or the energy at the end of the day) were it not for the remote lifestyle.

[toyg]

> The new friends I make here just aren't as fulfilling.

Someone once told me that most people you meet, when you move later in life, are acquaintances, not friends. I found that very true, in hindsight.

[rileyteige]

I agree completely. For me it's been the hardest part of this whole 'move for work/education' thing. Every relationship just seems way more shallow and I don't feel like I can relate on nearly the same level. It seems obvious, since you guys don't have the same stories/inside jokes/trials&tribulations.

It's funny because people say to us "wow you're a doctor and a software dev, you guys are just killing it!!!" but they don't see the cost that comes with it. Perhaps we can move back but after 8 years the damage is pretty well done.