[ga9213]

My outlook on what's important in life as well as our goals took a major turn about 3 years ago. My wife was pregnant with our second child at 24 weeks when she had a hemorrhagic stroke due to a previously undiscovered AVM. We nearly lost her and if we had, likely the baby as well. We got really, really lucky on the location of her bleed as if it were a fraction of a mm further out, she'd have likely died within minutes of the stroke, or at best had massive permanent deficits.

Ultimately, the bleed was intracranial which caused some permanent deficits but minor in comparison..and the AVM was operable so it was removed to prevent future strokes (hopefully). We delivered my daughter at 30 weeks via c-section which was as long as her neurologist wanted to wait, and then she had her craniotomy.

Prior to this I was job hopping about every 5 years to work my way up the ladder, taking decent pay raises along the way, but also additional responsibilities.

Where I'm at now is at a fantastic healthcare system where I work remotely and previously had traveled 75%. However after the stroke that got cut down dramatically and now with COVID I've not traveled at all. I'm done job hopping as I have a fantastic work life balance while still making a very comfortable wage.

At this point we are maxing our retirements and padding our savings. We live well below our means so that we can give our daughters the best lives we can, but are also preparing for the worst if something else should happen.

Absolutely treasure your loved ones every day you have with them...it can be taken in the blink of an eye and everything you thought you held with high regard is entirely meaningless in comparison.