[ESPCamaro]

Lately I've had very little time to work on our car.

My son is what I live for. And I get home so late, if I spend ANY time in the garage I miss out on ANY time with him. He'd be asleep when I get in.


That's one of the signs.


2nd...Driving down the road, having SubWay for the 2nd night in a row, because it'll be 7:00 or later by the time we get home (my wife and I work together-no we didn't meet at work).


Boy this sucks!! I need this weekend bad.

[jensend]

Realized I worked too much when I came home from my second job one night and realized I had seen neither of my two young kids during their waking hours for over two weeks. Kind of makes you re-examine your concept of yourself as a "parent". Fortunately, my second job was my own business. After discussing the issue with my wife (God bless her) we agreed to take the financial "hit" and I closed the business to spend time with my kids. This represented a more than 50% drop in income, so it wasn't a casual decision. We managed anyway and I spent lots of time with my two sons. Friends and neighbors thought us crazy. Nine years later I was diagnosed with late third stage cancer. After surgery, I was given a 20% chance of survival for two years. Needless to say, I had no regrets about the "sacrifices" I had made to spend time with my family. Luckily, I was a statistical exception (8years and counting). When the time came to retire from my career, there was no question about the choice between working longer to increase my pension/savings or having more time with family and hobbies. We find ways to do what's necessary. We don't have the fanciest house on the block, and my truck has 187k on it, but, I don't have to worry that I'll get to the end of things and regret that I chose working over living. Trust me, there are enough unexpected uncertainties in life for me to know that work and wealth are two of the weakest reasons for not focusing on the things that really give meaning to living. Once you're gone, the people who love you will put more value on what you did with your time together than how big an office or portfolio you had. Death is a "given" and unavoidable; death with regret is my idea of Hell. Sorry if this rant sounds preachy, but it's something that has been very important in my experience.