Ah, precious freedom.

Well, the transition is complete. My little business I spent 4 long, hard years has been sold off to capable hands, and I'm back where I started in a regular 9-5 job. 

There's parts of the freelance lifestyle I certainly miss. I miss sleeping in, working in my pajamas, and working with my dog cuddled at my feet during the day. But there's a lot of freelancing I don't miss at all, like the inconsistent paychecks, constant stress and very long work hours. I'm getting really used to getting off work at 4:30 and having almost nothing to do until I hit the sack at night. I'm staying productive of course, working on the baby's nursery and tending to lots of little tasks I've been neglecting over the last couple years.

Most nights the wife and I have a great dinner together, take the mutt for a walk, then decide how to spend the rest of our night. It's a far cry from the days just a few months ago, when our dinners would be rushed so I could get back to work and I'd have to try hard to leave some work to do that I could do in front of the TV instead of in my office. 

Things are actually becoming fun again, like blogging for my dumb personal site and working on my art again. These things seemed like a waste of time before, when my mind was so occupied on finding my next job, or coming up with projects that could make me money. I now have time for fun projects again and playing around on my iPad. Life rules. I used to think the best part of my life was my awesome self-employment, but I was either lying to myself or just naive. My big pleasure now is from my family and my hobbies, and my job is there to support those things and not run my life. I don't regret my freelancing business, but I really love just being a normal guy with a normal job again. Things worked out well for me.