Do material things bring happiness?

When I was thirty years old, my husband and I had accumulated more material things than my parents had accumulated in their lifetime.  We lived in a four bedroom, family room with a waist-high fireplace, two-car garage, home.  From the outside, we looked like a "perfect" family.

It looked like we had everything.  I felt like we had nothing.  How could I be so unhappy when we had so much materially?

We were living with active alcoholism.

After the divorce, four small children and I were living in low income housing.  We were on Aid to Families with Dependent Children.  We  used food stamps.  (I used to call that my weekly lesson in humility.) 

With no visible means of support, it looked like we had nothing.  Without the active alcoholism, I felt like we had everything.

It wasn't what was in my wallet that counted.  It was what was in my heart.