[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.

[00 Trans Ram]

Honestly, I can relate, but not because of my current situation.

When I was in high school, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Through the 3 years shoe fought it (had a recurrence 18 months after the first diagnosis), it brought our family VERY close together. During that time, as a Freshman-Junior in high school, most of my friends' biggest worries ewre what party was happening Friday night, and who they would bring. My biggest worry was if my mother would see me graduate. It really put things in perspective. As we look back on it, our entire family agrees - if we could do it all over again (knowing she would survive), we would still choose having the cancer. Our family is VERY close, and all of us realize the true things that are important.

A few years ago, my co-worker quit. For 9 months, I worked 12-14 hours a day, 6 days per week. I saw my wife (we'd only been married around a year or so) maybe 1-2 hours per night, and on Sunday. Then, one day, I went into work and told them that they needed to hire someone else. As of that day, I was not going to work more than 50 hours per week (except in special circumstances) and I would not work the weekend. If that required my resignation, so be it. They decided to hire another person, then eventually third person.

So, I now get to work at 8:30. I go home at 5:00. Sure, I stay late or come in early sometimes, but no more than is absolutely necessary. I tell very few people to call me outside the office - when I get home, it's to be away from work. I don't bring work home with me. If this has, or will, cost me a promotion or pay-raise, I feel it is worth it. Nothing is as important as my wife and (future) kids.