Priorities:

I received an email today from my sister about someone I don't know. Normally I don't care about strangers. But this one had a great philosophy. He was giving up his job (at a time when the economy is in the pits) to spend time with his wife. His words "I've spent 152 days in operational travel, and Lis and I like each other too much to allow this to continue". I admired him. Tom just started a job where he spends less time with us. About an hour a day, and a weekend every other weekend. And right now those weekends are filled with innumerable jobs that need to be done. When did our priorities change. I needed Tom to take the job he's at. It provides our family with financial stability at the cost of family time. I know he misses giving Rachael her bath at nights, relaxing with me and watching Law & Order after the babies are asleep and the many other things we did as a family. Now he gets home at 3:00 sometimes 4:00 in the morning - exhausted. Then wakes up at 6:30 to spend an hour with us while we rush around getting ready for work and daycare. When we leave he gets some more rest, and then he's off to work. Is it worth it. Did we make the right descision. In today's world am I doing right by my children going off to work, leaving them at daycare... they're growing up without us. Yes we try to spend as much time as we can, and we try to make that time count. But what's better? Living in Deerfield in nice house with a yard, good schools and a shortage of family time or living in a condo with questionable schools but lots of Mommy time. For now we've chosen the former. The guilt it brings I live with on a daily basis.