I read this forum almost everyday, but never post as I'm only here to learn. I'm 59 years old and my husband is 63. Before we had children my husband and I each worked about sixty hours a week, but after the kids arrived I was a stay-at-home mom and now am a stay-at-home grandma. We live in a 3400 sq. ft. house we built ourselves and plan on adding another 600 sq. ft. in the near future. It has nothing to do with being a status symbol. We use every sq. st. and love every sq. ft. We have wonderful memories of our children and grandchildren playing in our house and running through our 15 acres. We also have great memories of grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, friends, sitting around our table enjoying family meals, playing board and card games, visiting around our fireplace. We've had cookouts and games outside. Holidays are a special time here. We've walked the trails in our woods. We've shared happy times and supported each other in difficult times in this place. This is not just a house to us, it's our home and we love what it's been to us, and what we hope it will continue to be. "There's no place like home" is real to us. My husband never made me feel guilty for not working outside our home. He was happy making me happy. I returned his kindness by always keeping his home a good place for him to be when he wasn't at work. He's never cooked, cleaned, done laundry, gotten up in the middle of the night with kids. We have 15 acres, with about 1/3 lawn. I've always mowed the lawn, painted the house and outbuildings inside and out when they need it. Cleared trails through the woods, piled firewood, piled lumber (we had our own sawmill). Just because I've stayed home I haven't been lazy. If I'd continued working, I don't think either of us would have been as content as we've been because we would have been too busy to enjoy life's simple pleasures. We've both been extremely blessed in our lives, and I think we can both say we've had what we wanted.