One of the reasons why I chose to become a freelancer was the fact that I was missing many of my son’s first. A few weeks before I quit my last job, my son had started crawling for the first time. I was lucky my wife caught it on video but sad that I wasn’t actually there.
Since freelancing, I’ve been able to be with my family as my son has had many firsts — his first attempt at walking, his first time repeating words I had just spoken, his first time drinking out of a straw.
Today, my son ate apple pieces off of a fork for the first time. My wife and I couldn’t be prouder. He hasn’t figured out the picking up food with his fork yet, but if you give him a fork with food on it, he’ll guide it to his mouth for consumption. Awesome.
Freelancing has its challenges but the reward of being able to say, “I was there.” for many of my son’s firsts outweighs those challenges.