Why do you do that?

This is a great question that I love to hear when bitching about my commute. I was recently telling a friend that is not local that I leave for work by 6 every morning to get to work by 7. They just found this insane, as most other people do that don't live around here. Yes, I leave by 6 am and it takes me almost an hour to get 12 miles. This is for sure the most awesome start to any morning. Everyone should be so lucky. I recommend that everyone move to the DC area so that your days will be filled with sunshine just like mine. But, the question always asked is an interesting one. "Why do you do that?" Why do we do this? Why do we put ourselves through the crap that we do just to maintain in this area? Do we have higher salaries, sure, but are we getting ahead? Not really. We have access to more "stuff" but when do we ever do any of it? Most of us are so drained from our work lives, commutes, etc. that we are just happy to have an evening to sit on the couch and do nothing. By the time you get home on weeknights you basically have just enough time to eat, clean up, catch up on all the work emails that you didn't have time to do, and go to bed to prepare for another day of fun. Weekends are full of doing all the shit that piles up all week that you don't have time to do. Laundry, grocery shopping, dry cleaning, post office, cleaning the house, etc. I don't even have freaking kids. I can't imagine what that would do to your life. Maybe by some stroke of luck you find the time to hang out with some family or friends for a few hours and that is your life in a nutshell. So, I get back to my friend's question, why do we do this?