Standard of Living vs. Quality of Life

This is my latest at the Partial Observer. Excerpt:

"[T]he price of gas got so high that even driving got to be too expensive. So, then we saw them once every year-and-a-half to two years."

"But why would they live so far away from you?"

"Because of my grampa's job, and also my Mom's job."

"Why didn't they live closer and have different jobs?'

"Good question. They had to stay with the companies they worked for because that's who paid for their health care."

"Were they slaves, Daddy?"

Dad laughed, "No! No, that's not what . . . nah." But he thought to himself, "Maybe they were, in a way."