Turned the Corner
Congratulations! You sound almost exactly like me when I tried my first work commute a couple of years ago. You got me way beat though, I felt like you with only a 12 mile commute (though I do have a very steep hill up to my house). You should be very proud, and for heaven's sake, thank the wife too. Without a supportive spouse, the extra time commuting could be a problem.
For me, a helpful next step was to sign up with a commuting thread to listen to others who do this regularly. I know there's one on this forum, but on BikeJournal.com, there's a commuter cycle century thread where people sign up with a goal of riding to work 100 times a year.
That gave me a journal to log my trips and compare to others and myself. I'm on my 79th commute of the year this year, trying to pass my 148 trips from last year. Even if you can't make the century goal, the environment of attempting a goal is a help when you do commutes, I think.