Living to Work or Working to Live

I remember when my adult children were young.  I was a single parent and at times had to work two jobs to keep us going.  At other times I was working full time and going to college at night.  I regret the time away from my children and often felt that I wasn't the parent I wanted to be.  I was only living to be able to spend most of my life working. Work consumed most of my energy that wasn't involved with trying to pay bills and keep food on the table. I don't know if there was any other way to keep a house over our heads.  As I look back, I feel sad for all of the things I missed as a parent.  I was happy that we survived.  Some of us get so used to working excessively that we don't realize we have what we need and it isn't necessary to continue making "more money", If we can do that, it will be possible for us to take time off, take vacations, and spend quality time with family and friends.  Money and things are not the goal in themselves.  They are only valuable in what they can do to help ourselves, family and friends to have their needs met and achieve their goals.  It is the love of family and friends that we carry with us.  I hope that all of us can learn to work with the goal of living constructively and interacting passionately with our families, friends and world.