A Ramble About Money

   Today, I was checking, because I've been checking all week, because I only got scheduled one day off, and although I decided to roll with it and just work the extra day because I have a vacation coming up and I need the extra money, I am reserving the right to complain about this extra day of work until I am forty. But I digress. I was checking today, was how this story was going, and one of my customers' bill came up to a little over $100, and she had a kid. And that kid's eyes popped out of his little head, and he said in an awed voice, "Whoa, that's a lot of money." And his mom looked at me and we laughed at this little piece of naive childhood, because all of us adults know that $100 in the U.S., that doesn't get you very far.
  But that is also a bit of naivety that I can relate too, and this actually brought to mind a childhood vacation from when I was a child myself. My mom, sister, and I were visiting my dad in Maryland (before they divorced). My dad was in the Air Force (which is why I was born in Japan, because my mom was overseas with my dad when I was born) and for a while, he didn't live with us because he was going to all these overseas places so we went and lived in Mississippi, where he is from, while he did his job overseas. But for a short period of time, he was not stationed overseas, but was in Maryland, so we went to visit him. So I don't suppose that this was a vacation trip for him, but it was for us, and he recognized that, and as a gift upon our arrival, he gave my sister and I both a hundred dollar bill to use as spending money while we were there.
   $100!!! That seemed like a fortune. And actually, to just give that to a kid as spending money, that is a lot of money, but I remember the shock of holding that money. I felt so rich. But even better than this feeling, is my sister's reaction. (Hehe, she's gonna kill me.) My sister was so happy to have that, and so determined that no one was going to take that money, that she took that bill, and stuck the entire thing in her mouth. She figured that no one would want the $100 back if her slobber was all over it. She's such a germaphobe, this made sense to her because she hates other people's slobber, but she was just a kid, so she had no knowledge of how dirty money really is. She is probably highly disgusted that she ever did such a thing. But her taking that money and cramming it in her mouth made my dad laugh and laugh and laugh.
   Of course, now a hundred bucks doesn't seem so much. Buying a game takes over half of that money right away, if you buy it new. And that won't even cover the bill if  I go shopping for books. Don't get me started on the grocery bill -- I try to eat somewhat healthy, and healthy food is way more expensive than junk food. And my daughter's favorite fruit is cherries, the most freaking expensive fruit I've ever bought. A little bag of cherries costs me eight to twelve dollars at the store. Can't that kid like apples the best????
   But I understand that kid's awe (not mine, the customer's), because a hundred does seem like a lot, and I understand the parent's wry  amusement, because what is a lot to a kid, isn't much to an adult. (Although that was a LOT of money to give to a kid just to spend. My dad must have saved up and done without to give that to us.) And the whole point of this blog post might have just been to tell the world that my sister once crammed a hundred dollar bill in her mouth. I'll never admit that though. It's a mystery.....