1) I do realize there are people who feel differently than I do. I don't fault them one bit. It all comes down to the choices you make.
2) Sacrificing time is not the same as abandoning the family. But it does mean sacrifices. I'm at two physician meetings over the next two weekends, which means I'll have two days off over the next three weeks.
3) Agree on the low-maintenance wife. That is a must-have that I've been lucky on (even my first wife of 17 years was low maintenance).
Let me ask you something: What about people on the other end of the spectrum? What if I had two kids, and decided that all our family needed was love and time together? Let's say I cobbled together $8,500/year and we lived in virtual squalor. But the kids would see me 15+ hours a day and I'd do zero nights per week of travel. Now they'd have no health care, no college funds, no help with material items -- but we'd all be close knit.
Would those guys be doing something even more noble than both you and I?