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When we were kids we would hear the adults talking about the good ol' days. The era of soda shops and dime movies. When Cokes were a nickle and pop corn was a few cents, cheaper if you brought your own paper bag. I would sit there in awe, wondering what it would be like to buy a steak dinner for 75cents. With all the fixens' too not just the steak. "What a time to be alive everything was so cheap." My elders would look at me and say "cheap? no son that was not cheap. We made about $25 a week back then and every penny had to be spent wisely." What a minute $25 a week? I would kill for kind of money, as it was I didn't even get an allowance for doing my chores, my dad would say i let you live here that's enough. "$25 a week! Wow you guys were rich!" They looked at me and laughed. "oh how cute, wait till he finds out". Find out what? What aren't you telling me? What secret am I missing out on? Tell me I must know! Well they never did. And the mystery went on for years.

The mystery became evident when I began to live on my own. Your paycheck always seems to just cover you. Food, gas, rent, and god help you if you have a girlfriend. But even then you seem content. Money for beer and snacks is all you seem to need. Then as you get older, you get needier. You keep buying more stuff, eventually you get a house to hold your stuff, and then what do you do? You go buy more stuff. No matter how much money you make there is always something there to take it away. So what I learned is take care of the stuff money can't buy. Like family and friends. No matter what size your paycheck, or no matter how big your house, true friends and family can never be bought.