Live to Work or Work to Live?

I'm 35, married to my high school sweetheart, of 17 years and have one daughter, 14, whom I have stayed at home to raise for her entire life. I had a few part time jobs in the past and found that it actually cost me money in taxes every year to work outside the home. I now grow and make nature crafts and sell them.

I have made it an everyday habit to save and reuse all that I can, something I learned form my grandparents, who lived almost totally off of the land. We only ever make about $20,000 a year, but of that I can save at least $5,000. And I can't say that I want for anything more in life, than I have right now. I have used the opportunity to stay at home and do something far more valuable to me than having money in the bank or a lot of extra, so called luxuries.

I have really tried to prepare my daughter for her future, really taking the time to teach her common sense and all the essentials of living, along with the many wonderful extras that life can offer her, as well as the pitfalls and problems and how to avoid them. She has blossomed into a wonderful teenager that is respectful of people and nature, she has a unique personality and a zest for life.

I am very glad to hear that there are so many others doing what we are, to ensure that the next generation will be the best of all. After all, each generation has the opportunity to take the best and worst from their childhood and raise their children differently, so that the mistakes of the past do not get passed along, unknowingly, to the children of the future.

I think that's our greatest task as parents, to really pay attention to every aspect of their learning and be there with the guidance they need to sustain them throughout their lives. There's a lot to be said for the quality of life rather than the quantity of things you can accumulate in life.

You can live to work or work to live. I work to live life to its fullest.

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