Ice cream in February

A couple of nights ago, we took the kids to go grab some tacos at our favorite place. It’s in a crappy neighborhood, and the locals walking by are usually strung out, but it was 65° out in February, so we had to sit outside. It is sort of an unspoken rule. 

Anyway, I was ready to go home after dinner, but the vanload of children (and my wife) petitioned to go to a favorite ice cream shop in nearby Lawrence. Now, if you follow college basketball, you have definitely heard of Lawrence, Kansas. If you don’t follow basketball, then I won’t bother explaining it. Anyway, this shop has been on Massachusetts Street (or just “Mass Street” as the locals call it) since the 90s, and I have been going there since I was a teenager. It is pretty well woven into my wife and I’s DNA at this point. 

I’ll be honest: I didn’t want to go. It was about 8:00, and it’s a good 40-minute drive between the Mexican place in Topeka and Sylas & Maddy’s (the ice creamery) in Lawrence. The sun was already set, and everything is still brown, so a scenic byway was out. But I couldn’t really say no (their ice cream is fantastic).

Where am I going with this?

My goal was to go home and hustle some more. I have blog posts to write, videos to edit for YouTube, and paid work to catch up on. 

But you know what? Life is made up of a lot more than hustle. My wife is quick to remind me that half of the reason I resigned from my career in 2021 was to focus more on our homestead and more on my family. 

I know that the passport hustlebros have a broad appeal, but that isn’t who I am. I was 38 when I walked away from a career I enjoyed. And it was hard! If you are in my demographic, you probably aren’t looking at moving to Costa Rica. You might just be looking to make some extra money to keep up with the cost of living. 

Anyway, the hustle and grind will always be there. Don’t feel guilty because it’s 65° in February, and you decided to go get some ice cream with your kids. They won’t care about your growth patterns on whatever platform, but they’ll sure remember that you didn’t have time for them.