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2:19:00 PM EDT
Feeling Quiet
POCKET CHANGE
I recently received news and pictures from some good friends.
Actually they are life long friends, since I knew them in childhood.
They both attended school with me, though both are a little younger
than I . They were high-school sweethearts who married soon after
graduating and my husband and I were newlyweds. We developed
a close relationship with them and their families. We camped with
several young couples, including them and we shared many happy
times vacationing. This continued even after our children were born
and we all felt very close.
When my daughter was in grade school, we all were going to
basketball games a lot at elementary/high school where we lived. We
had settled into a new home that we had built. My husband now had
a secure job but with building, finances were pretty tight. I had been
working at the school, but my husband and I both wanted me to be
able to stay home with the little one and competent baby-sitters were
both expensive and hard to find. So I had stopped working at the
time I am going to tell about.
My husband always had a natural mechanical ability and an
interest in vehicles so he almost fell into a sideline. He started out
buying lawn-mowers and repairing or reselling them. We had a
three stall garage behind our house that he converted to a repair
shop. He soon advanced to repairing cars and trucks. His business
grew and soon became a second job. He did not want to leave his
regular job because of benefits and insurance and besides his sideline,
though profitable, was just getting established. So he continued for
some time working his regular job, eating supper,then going to his
garage where he worked late into the night. His repairs were in
demand, but payment for them was often shaky and uncertain.
Good-natured as he was, he did not like to pressure people for
payment even though he had invested labor and parts in the job.
Anyway, my son was about three years old at the time.
One Friday night, we had planned to go to the ball game with
our friends. As we were getting ready to go, a guy came by
to pay a repair bill that had been accumulating for some time.
My husband took the cash that he paid him and placed it in
his sock drawer to be taken to the bank on Saturday morning.
I dressed our little guy in little Levi's and t-shirt and we went
to the game and met our friends there.
We were sitting with them in the bleachers before the
game started when someone mentioned getting popcorn. Son
started clammering to go to the concession stand. We had
eaten supper, but when he persisted our friend said, "Come
on, honey, Kathy'll take you." And she helped him down the
bleachers and out to the concession stand.
They returned a few minutes later and she was laughing.
She said, "You'll never believe what this child did!!" I stared
at her incredulously as she went on. She said, "When we
went to the counter, your son told me, "' Buy any-fing you
want, Kaffy, I'm loaded!"' Then he reached into his jean's
pocket and pulled out a big wad of bills , scattering a few
on the floor, which she quickly retrieved.
Apparently, he had seen his daddy stash the cash in
the drawer and when he left the room, had helped himself
to fill his pockets. I believe that little three year old boy
was carrying around over eight hundred dollars that night.
At that time in our lives, this was a huge amount of money
to us and would have been a big loss. This is still one of Kathy
and Larry's favorite anecdotes about their "Buddy-Pal" and the
night Kathy got taken out by a big spender.
We all learned a good lesson that night. Our little boy
learned some rules about money and ownership. We learned
that you never know what to expect from alittle fellow in public.
We also were very careful not to lead him into temptation by
being too lax with money we couldn't afford to lose.
My little boy grew up to be very generous and giving. Like
his daddy, he likes to earn money but he also likes to spend it
and give it away. How do you argue with those qualities, especially
when he is so good to his mother? Just save a little for a rainy day.
Written by krmprm Blog about this entry |
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he sounds like a wonderful young man!!! what a neat story to read!!
betty
4/27/08 7:53 PM