My first job was as a C/assembly language programmer at a software development firm.  When I began working, my parents were disturbed by the number of hours that I invested on the job.  They were morally opposed to the overnights, for example. After one year, they asked me to resign.

Because I was used to doing what my parents wanted, I quit my job and moved on to a management consulting position that taught me new things but was far less interesting to me that my original work.  Career-wise, that was a mistake, because I gave up something that I was truly passionate about for something that was more acceptable but less fulfilling (it paid less, too). 

Because life moves on, I never had an opportuntity to program again to the degree that I did during that one year.  These last two weeks, though, gave me a chance to program, not that that same degree (it's kinda hard to top 10 hours a day...) but at least much more than I have in a while (programming for CS 21 a does not count).

I remember a friend of mine said that, after many years of not programming, he had to cobble together a quick C program.  As he typed, "#include <stdio.h>", a tear came to his eye.  I know how he feels.