Before I retired, I had a busy and rewarding, albeit stressful job as an elementary school principal. Although I enjoyed the work and it paid well, the job required ~60+ hours a week and there was always something happening at least one evening a week, and even on weekends. I used to think that that my dh had it made with the easier job because he is "just a teacher."

Well, since retiring, I have a newfound appreciation for my dh's job. Now that I am home more, I see and understand how much time he puts into his job. He teaches adults, graduate students, and they generate copious amounts of writing through the various required course assignments. He carefully reads every paper and writes comments on each one. He stays on top of the research in his field and must prepare for his classes, not to mention having to publish scholarly articles and books on a regular basis, and coordinate his program. And then there are the frequent and time-consuming department and committee meetings.

I guess I never noticed before because I was too busy with my own job. In retrospect, I was so wrapped up my work that I became oblivious to what my dh actually does and how hard he works. The workaholic life I used to lead was a selfish life because I tended to focus on my own work as if it were more important then dh's, and it consumed so much of my time. Now, things are very different... although I earn less than half of what I used to, life is by far richer and more rewarding.