Who's Richer
Gentlemen your outlook on life is great. I got a lesson early in life about priorities. My mom died in 1969, she was sick for four years and I was 14. We lived on a farm on PEI, and my dad was a potato grower and dairy farmer. I worked all my childhood and I didn't think much of it when I was growing up but there wasn't any such thing as being bored. I had chores to do and we had a big old farm house to live in. A couple came to live with us after my mom died, and the lady was our housekeeper and her husband did odd jobs around the farm when he wasn't working. Ethel was like a second mother and Lester like an uncle to me. They always talked about retirement and living on their house they were fixing up. One night when I was home studying for an exam, Lester came down with a terrible headache, he never had a headache in his life. I drove he and his wife to the community hospital, we were there about ten minutes and he passed away. I was 18 and he was 63 years old. It's not easy telling a sons or daughters that their father just died. I got two tragic wake up's before I turned nineteen. I had listened to Ethel and Lester talk about all the things they were going to do for years and in a few short minutes life ended for Lester. They missed all the things they had planned on doing because they didn't take the time to do them when they could.
My wife used to get really pissed at me for hunting, buying & selling, and trading guns. Working 12 or 14 hour days, driving myself harder and harder to make a better life. I went one stretch where I didn't take a vacation for six years,
then I got sick.
I dropped from 185 lbs to 125 in less than three months and the only thing that saved me was some drastic drugs and rest. I spent most of the time lying around unable to do anything. My wife got a quick outlook on life, she could have been a widow with two small children. Now we do what we can, with what modest income we have. She has her horse and I my guns.
I am disabled with a spinal injury I sustained six years ago, and unable to hunt, walk, or sit. I am glad we did the things we wanted to do when we could, I am now 51.
My point is, do something you want to do, but don't bankrupt yourselves trying to do it. Money isn't everything, finding a new toy and scratching to save the money to pay for it is an accomplishment. I wouldn't mind a million dollars, but I would rather be healthy and pain free.
The one thing I am going to do for my wife is get enough money together and get my back strong enough to take her to the Calgary Stampede. We had planned on going, even had our tickets before I got injured, now it won't happen. I don't give a dam about what I would like, she deserves it for always being there when I needed her. Never complains, and is always there with a hug for me, when I am in pain.
Have fun and do what you want to do now.
]. I'm very fortunate that when I make a small sacrifice (like working an 80 hour week) that my boss knows I'm taking an extra week off in hunting season, in fact, he insists. 
