Opportunity Costs

I used to live a pretty typical bachelor lifestyle.  Had a gang of friends, we used to hand out a lot, we all had plenty of free time and disposable income to waste on various entertainments.  Days off, I had to make 2 or 3 phone calls at most to get the party started.

A few years into it, I realized that I was getting burned out on my job.  I had pretty much done what there was to do, everything was becoming routine, and I decided it was time to move on.  So I started thinking about what to do with myself, and wound up deciding to go back to school.  I realized this was going to cost me a lot of time and money, that I'd have to put in a lot of hard work, etc etc.  I figured this was worth it and decided to go back to school.

Fast forward to 10 years, and I was back out in the world, with spare time and disposable income again, and I was all ready to reconnect with the old gang.  Except those folks weren't into it any more.  They all had real jobs, and kids, and wives, and what have you.  My old friends, my old life, were gone.

That was one cost I hadn't counted on.