I do understand the long inward periods. I hope things are looking brighter...?

It would be so awesome for my ego if I could claim to have worked hard to earn this slot in life, but I can't. I've just been lucky. Discounting the baseline good fortune of middle-class white privilege, I was also lucky to have wandered into a pretty good job that was also relatively recession-proof. The last six years or so since the big crash have been when I was personally able to save the most money.

The backhanded compliment my family members pay me is, "God, I don't see how you stuck with that [stupid, boring, bureaucratic, uncreative] job all those years. I [exciting, restless, bold, nonconforming interesting person] couldn't have done it!"

As Xander famously said, "I like the quiet." But I really have been lucky.