A Lesson In Finance

My submission last week was about the scary experience of releasing one of our neighbor girls from a hole in the backyard. I'd like to clarify that she was about 12 at the time. We were quite scared then but over the years (she is almost 27 now) thinking about it has made it one of the stories we giggle about. That's why you might've been shocked at the comments you encountered from my children. They mostly see that episode with humor now. It was one of those "you had to be there" things to fully appreciate how funny it was . . . when it was over. This week's story is not in the least scary. Hope you enjoy it.

Our daughter, Karen, is pretty good at finances. She graduated from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University when FPU was in its early days. She has the ability to stretch a dollar until George Washington begs for mercy. Here is one of her first lessons in finances.

When Karen was 2 1/2 she became a big sister to the one we now call Lulu (due to the type of stunts she used to pull - like the one related last week). Lulu was my biggest baby by birth weight which was a good thing because once she was born I had very little weight of my own to lose.

Lulu was also a voracious nurser, so much so that my weight began to drop off with alarming rapidity. Having a toddler to chase around the house probably contributed to it, too.

The time came that I weighed less than 100 pounds and was starting to feel more exhausted than even the mother of an infant should so I went to the doctor for some advice. He suggested that I eat a milkshake each day to keep enough fat and calories in my system.

We lived in a little town that sold very little else but ice cream. We had to drive about 10 miles to reach the interstate that would take us to the next 30 miles to the city to buy things like curtains and home furnishings, but between our house and the on ramp were 4 ice cream stands. Each had the word "Dairy" somewhere in the name. Each had a building shaped in some novel way to go with the name. For instance, the Dairy Barn was housed in a big shed that was painted to look like a barn.

Stopping to buy ice cream each day is expensive and as a young family we didn't have much money for extras. One day we neglected to stop because we did not have the funds available. We drove right past those stands to the consternation of Karen riding in the backseat. She could talk quite well so she voiced objections as we passed each one.

Finally, we couldn't console her any longer. We explained that we didn't have any money. The shrewd little tot stated matter-of-factly, "Oh, is that all? Just stop at The Owl (ATM). It always has money."