I'm terribly jealous of the room that's only for you 5 minutes from the lake. We live in a house that was plenty big enough for the 3 of us when we bought it, and then we had our daughter, through some miracle. (my wife was on birth control and 40 years old at the time. if I were religious, I'd consider it an act of God, because our daughter is a joy) The house suddenly shrunk, considerably. Should have bought a larger place years ago, but keep putting it off. The schools are excellent out here, but my daughter is going to a magnet middle school in the Fall that's no where near us, so that won't be something holding us back. Crazy prices in Central Austin might, however. Yes, I'm really jealous of that room! Bet you're glad the lake is finally full. I thought the questions were too limited. I'm happy in most aspects of my life. My two kids are incredibly intelligent. Smarter than their parents, based on what we were doing at the same age. Our income is way above average and we can afford to travel, which we both love, and would do that more often if we were sans kids. At least we'd be able to go to a lot of places that having the two of them really limits now. While our neighborhood isn't in Central Austin, as we'd like, it's very nice and closer in every year, as well as slowly getting more liberal. My wife and I both have bad backs, and I've had surgery on mine, having to live with chronic pain 24/7, but others have far worse health problems. I'd like to have the physique of 20 years ago, as would my wife (especially since we waited so long to have our kids and can't do a lot of things with them that we, and they, would enjoy), but, like I said, we're far better off health-wise compared to so many other people. I'm very lucky to be married to a wonderful woman that shares so many interests with me. She's a state executive and fellow political junkie, so we talks politics a lot, which we love doing. (even if the current situations to talk about come close to driving us crazy, at times) The sex is better than it's ever been, despite the physical problems. Funny how you don't notice them in the sack! Being a voracious reader, it's great to be able to afford to buy any book that comes down the pike that grabs my interest. (need more book shelves!) Like you, I still have friends I've known since grade school, which is rare these days. I could go on about the positives and how lucky I am, but there are aspects of my life that I wish were different, like the chronic pain. I would have liked another option in the poll. Something on the lines of, "Happy, except for a few things!" In general, have to say I'm happy. I deliberately left out the Rockets, lol. They bummed me out for a while, but now I'm getting into the off-season groove. The discussion in D&D could be better, and more diverse, but I still enjoy the forum. GARM can be hard to wade through, but one of the nice things about the off-season is that it gets easier to make my way through the BS. And we're going soon to the Yucatan, to a small island (not Cozumel) that isn't overrun with tourists, for two weeks. Renting a condo on the top floor of a six story "tower," right on a beautiful white sandy beach, The place is less than 2 years old, and is the biggest building on the island, lol. Two bedrooms w/baths, with a living room and kitchen between us and the one for the kids. Wrap around balconies. They get two queen sized beds and their own flat screen TV with satellite reception and wireless broadband. Got them covered if they get bored with the beach. Go up a spiral staircase to a rooftop deck, with custom couches to sprawl on in the sun, a grill, it's own bath with shower and, best of all, a big hot tub overlooking paradise. Come to think of it, life is pretty damn good!
