aah, this is an all too familiar story. So many people end up being swept up by responsibility and fail to recognise what is truly important - and BALANCE is important. I'm so glad that you have come to appreciate this at a young enough age so that you can hopefully enjoy many more years of family time. With respect to your piece, it could benefit from an edit to catch some incorrect use of tenses (mixing past and present in the same sentences), and word choices eg: the use of inherent instead of apparent. Thank you for writing in The Ink Well and contributing positively to the community. Merry Christmas!