HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY NEED

I was talking to a patient yesterday about his wife's job as an Office Manager for an Endodontist (root canal specialist).  She loves the new job, but her commute is one plus hour depending on traffic.  Her office is across the street from Ray's in Old Town Alexandria, VA.  His commute is ONLY forty-five minutes in the morning because he leaves the house at 3:30 am.  In the afternoon (at 4:00 pm), it can be one to two to three hours depending on the way the stars and moon are lined up that day.  (Today it was one hour and forty five minutes).  My patient commutes to Washington DC everyday.  He wakes at 4:30 am (this would be way too late for Ray!) and starts his day three hours later after arriving to work via MetroBus.  (Not to outdo any of them, my commute is ten minutes and isn't a part of this story).  I asked him what the heck he and his wife are still doing way down here in good old Stafford (they are an older couple without children).  His answer was that they had started looking at housing "up north and closer in"--a condo where you can step outside and everything is right there within walking distance as well as Metro to get you into DC, but it is all so expensive for the little space you get.  He said, "We can get so much more space and a lot more house for the money down here".  My response was, "But do you really need all that space now?  Isn't health (blood pressure) and sanity and overall well being more important?"  Because what he and his wife are doing now is what and Ray and I started doing six months ago and what was Plan A (I did remember)--go north, downsize, be able to walk everywhere/take Metro and spend a heck of a lot of money doing it, too.  I am too excited and curious not to see if Plan B (retiring early to Panama) is the way to go here.  Heck, I'll take one for the team since I have such a little commute and try to get Ray to better health, lower his stress, and save his sanity.  Which then means no more working for me either!  The way I'm seeing it...it's a win win!