David B. Cole wrote:

[...]
I myself am guilty of that in that if
money were not an issue I would probably go back for an engineering
doctorate and teach.

Heh. Engineering? No wonder I like you.

[...]
I still relish going down to
the Flying W airport, where I learned to fly, on a beautiful spring or
fall day and sitting on the grass watching other people fly.

This is an area where I stint. I reason that, as little time I have around
airplanes, I should fly with as much of that time as possible. Perhaps
that's an error.

[...]
To me it's the perfect combination of science and fun.

Absolutely. Instrument flying also appeals to the same persnickety nature
that works for me in software engineering.

[...]

So given that and that I'm almost 32, it's
unlikely that I will ever fly professionally. Part of it comes back
to giving up so much in order to do so, and I certainly admire those
that have done it. But maybe I'll go for the CFI/II and instruct
part-time. I've always had a gift for teaching and maybe this is the
perfect combination of what I enjoy and what I'm good at.

You could always teach engineering at a school which specializes in (or has
a good program for) aviation. Add a CFII to that, and...

I didn't mean to go into a long rant. I just wanted to see whether
others out there find themselves ensnared by this hobby to the extent
they wonder about their sanity. I had a dinner with a friend
yesterday and I told her that I was considering tallying up all the
money I had spend on flying to date. She told me not to, and asked if
it really mattered how much I 'd spent? It was something I did for
myself and it was something that made me very happy so how could I
place a price on that? She told me that so few people ever find
anything that they're passionate about, and even fewer have an
opportunity to make it a reality. I don't think I'm alone given what
I know about others on this board, but sometimes we need a sanity
check.

I've never computed that total, but I can get pretty close just in my head.
It's no trivial number. When I think what that money could have done for
my business, or my family, I do feel a little ill. Who am I to waste so
much on a "mere hobby"?

But life isn't something to be survived. We won't do that anyway, so it's a
poor goal in the long term. Instead, we should be doing the things that
make our hearts beat quicker, that take our breath away, and that warm our
souls.

I've several passions in my life. Flying is one. I could live without it,
but it would mean less living.

Is this normal? I'd say "no". Most people give up on their passions as a
part of the process they mistake for maturing. We're taught to "get by",
"do the job we're given", or "fit in".

But passion isn't about any of these things. One cannot discover passion by
"getting by". Passion is discovered by investing one's self completely in
the "job we're given", and then discovering where that takes us or what
that does to us. If we bring passion to everything we do, we're free to
find that about which we're passionate.

But "getting by" leaves no room for the discovery of passion. What might
have excited us is never given the chance, even if we do stumble across it.

Passion is also contagious. If nothing else, I owe it to my son to fan the
flames of my passions, that he can catch his own (which had damned well
better include aviation {8^).

- Andrew