I’m a parent. I haven’t got the luxury of principles. – The Patriot

A lot of things change when you have people depending on you.  The jobs that were beneath you are welcomed, so long as they put food on the table.  Suddenly that pack of smokes or that cup of designer coffee become a lot less important when the money could go to shoes or the light bill.  You can survive on absolute crap for years when it’s just you, but you put a baby in a high chair, and suddenly you’re pricing fresh fruit and milk.

And yes, that minivan suddenly starts to look like a better option than the sports coupe when you have to find space for multiple car seats.

When others depend on you for the necessities of life, you’ll sacrifice a lot of who you think you are to make sure they are OK.  That’s what being a wife, a husband, a father, or a mother is about.  When someone else is more important to you than you are to yourself, then you’ve finally grown up.