Five years ago I was busy every single evening and had almost nothing to show for it. Turns out there’s a difference between working on things and working toward something.

I’ve worn a lot of labels over the decades: hardware guy, IT veteran, self-taught coder, grandfather. None of them tell the whole story, and some of them are starting to feel like clothes that don’t fit anymore.

At 55, I’ve made peace with being a guy who doesn’t fit cleanly into any category the internet has invented for people like me. That peace took longer than it should have.