The Weekend Trader - Where It All Began

Today, I'm visiting my Mom & Dad and home "where it all began" for me ... a small town in southeastern Massachusetts a couple of hours from where I live now.

What's a bit surprising, is for a guy who hates to "look back" (again, you can't drive forward by looking at the rear view mirror), some interesting memories always accompany me when I return, including the garage door against which I hurled the tennis ball at the age of ten, pretending to pitch that perfect game of called strikes using the middle four panels of the door, before "starting over" after any ball or wild pitch with a clean slate and trying again. Hmmm ... where I have heard that "do over" concept before?

I seldom talk about trading with my parents or my close friends, after learning years ago that most people will never understand the concept due to mass media inaccuracies, personal opinion, and/or lack of full understanding of the topic. So I've instead purposely chosen to create a clear mental wall between my trading and personal lives. Frankly, aside from my wife, my family is unaware of the degree of my early heartaches and later success over the years, including the '08 CTA-besting performance. I simply don't talk about it, much like a plumber probably doesn't talk about the copper pipes he solders together hour after hour, day after day, or the bumps his knuckles receive by crawling around basements and managing around joists and rafters.

You see, for me, this is a job ... a serious one along with my other non-market business that also requires attention to provide that solid bill-paying foundation that frees the soul to dance with the market. And as I've preached to trader wannabes for years, if you can find that bill-paying income (spousal income, second job, another business, etc.), it's worth its weight in stress-reducing gold as trading profits become 100% incremental. And since we know how boring it is to hear about someone else's job, I don't talk about it.

Oh, except for this diary of course ... lol. Yet most of my family and friends don't even know this exists, which is ironic as it inadvertently continues to climb the ladder of top-visited trading websites while completely (and purposely) devoid of advertising, and linked only as the result of a handful of rare (again, purposely) interviews.

To my family, I'm like that plumber toiling away in a field they're not quite familiar with. So we instead talk about old times, grandkids (theirs, not mine), sports, home improvement, health, and other non-market topics. For me, it's a very healthy mental separation and helps keep me grounded.

Yet I am going to try to find a tennis ball today to throw one last pitch for old ... and new times sake. And if I miss, I'll chase it down and hurl it again. btw, that's the actual garage pic (new door of course after 40 years), along with my car Grace which many of you have heard about but likely never seen, which is a trading story in itself for new onlookers.

The next trading "do-over" will have to wait until Monday.

Have a restful and peaceful weekend.