See You Soon

By way of explaining my whereabouts for the next week or two, I'd like to offer some belated Thanksgiving thoughts.

When people talk about trading, they always tell you not to let your emotions run too high or too low and advise you to keep things in perspective. A little over a year and a half ago, when my wife was a few months pregnant, I was diagnosed with cancer. At age 40, the first was arriving a little late, while the other seemed a bit premature. To say I entered a period of extreme highs and lows would be an understatement.

The yearlong passage to health was filled with some very rough times, including two surgeries. There were instances when I got close to becoming untethered, but my wife, Evie, was always there to hold me fast and be a strong anchor. I can never thank her enough.

When things were bleak, my daughter, who is now 19 months old and the cutest girl in the world, was a bright beacon. I'm thankful she couldn't understand how important she was at the time.

And through it all, TheStreet.com was a harbor that was vital in maintaining a daily life that was not defined by treatment. Working at a place where you look forward to coming in (almost) every day is definitely something for which to be thankful.

So, let me add something to the notion that it's important to keep an even keel and perspective in trading. I'd say it's even more important to keep trading itself in perspective -- in terms of what is valuable and important in your life.

My wife is now pregnant with our second child, due in April. I am strong enough to use this window of time before the next baby comes to go ahead and get a replacement for a bad hip. So I won't be around for the next week or two.

See you soon, and thank you for reading.

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Steven Smith writes regularly for TheStreet.com. In keeping with TSC's editorial policy, he doesn't own or short individual stocks. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships. He was a seatholding member of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) from May 1989 to August 1995. During that six-year period, he traded multiple markets for his own personal account and acted as an executing broker for third-party accounts. He appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.

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