It's funny, with a non-traditional career no one ever really took it seriously besides me.  That is - until my second son came along.  This way of life and my work was all he had ever known, and I often overheard snippets of conversations about why he couldn't have me drive friends on Wednesday evenings - "because my mom has work".  Having 'work' and having to work, are two very different things.  
 
While being validated by customers is always fantastic, the same coming from your son is SO important.

I have just crested sixteen years since I melted my first rod of glass and my son is halfway to his eighteenth birthday.  I can honestly say that my eagerness to light the torch and let the ideas spill out has never waned.  Here's to the next sixteen!