We were a two-income family with a 17-month-old-son in day care in Washington. We had not a financial worry in the world. However, we had little time to enjoy our firstborn, except in the car during the madness of D.C.'s rush hours or the seemingly endless number of days one of us called in sick to care for our son, who seemed to pick up every illness that entered his day-care center. During our son's hospitalization due to a respiratory illness, my wife and I looked at each other one night and read each other's minds. There must be more to life than this.

Dan Crann