The Simple Wife

I’m sitting here, starting to feel exhausted. After Robbie woke us up I made a casserole for a funeral, went to the dentist, came home, cleaned the house and packed, went to an Open House at WOAK, came home, napped, did more cleaning and packing… In spite of all that, I feel remarkably on top of things considering that I’m leaving on a trip tomorrow. Usually I always feel somewhat panicked the day before a trip because of all I have to do and the more on my to-do list the more I procrastinate until I’m hastily throwing half my wardrobe into a suitcase at 10:00pm. Yes, I’m tired, but feel so incredibly peaceful (house is clean, laundry done, packing almost done), that I can’t help but wonder, what am I forgetting to do!?!?!?!?

I can’t say for certain the first time I saw a $100 bill, but one clear memory I have is when I was about seven years old and my family was going to Disneyland for the day. We had to go pick up the tickets at a friend’s house (they must have gotten a good deal on them or something), and I remember sitting next to my dad in the car while he held the $100 bill he would exchange for the tickets. Nowadays, it’s impossible for a family of five to go to Disneyland for $100, but at the time, I gazed in awe at the bill…humbled and amazed that my dad had that much money and we were going to use all of it to go to Disneyland.

Times have changed…I had to pay bills the other day. It’s a very bittersweet process. Bitter because I have to watch money leave our checking account (and hope that my horrid math skills will keep our checkbook somewhat balanced), but sweet because it means I’m on top of my duties as a housewife and we no longer owe anything (until the next month).  I dashed off checks for the house, credit card, power bill, etc., writing them out for a few hundred here, several hundred there. After everything was finally signed and stamped and I collapsed on the couch next to David, I thought of that time when I saw that $100 bill my dad held and wondered when $100 started to seem like so little. I wish I knew!

I am hoping that Robbie will inherit his granddad’s monetary skills, and he’ll always be a good steward of what the Lord has blessed him with…and be much better at math than his mommy!