Savings

Relationships are like bank accounts.  If you make a lot of deposits, no one cares when you make a withdrawal once in a while.  A marriage certificate or birth certificate only offers a tiny bit of overdraft protection.  If you go on a spending spree, without the savings to back yourself up, eventually a loan officer will step in and take over.

I’ve watched marriages, friendships and now, sickeningly, some parent-child relationships, fall apart because one or both of the people in the agreement weren’t managing their finances.

When you are young and everyone’s accounts are low in general, few people mind if you are constantly the one with the problem, or needing a favor, or the type of girl who only shows up when your boyfriend is busy.  But as we build our lives, the rich and the poor become obvious.

Recently, the biggest challenge for me is keeping my balance up where I want it with the boys.  I have to force myself to put down my notebook computer, my wine or the phone so I can be mentally present for the kids.

Last Friday afternoon I wanted to write.  I had been hit with a huge wave of inspiration and I wanted to surf it until dinnertime.  Charming Baby had other plans.

“Mom, I don’t want to sled anymore.  Will you do something with me?”

It was getting late and it was my weekend, too.  I could have put a movie on for him.  I thought about how the number of times he comes looking for me is diminishing.  He’s growing up fast.

“Okay, Sam.  What’ll it be?”

Charming Baby loves coffee cake so we dug around, found all the ingredients and I didn’t even holler when he got lots of little pieces of eggshell in the batter and spilled my real vanilla. 

It doesn’t take a CPA to figure out that you can’t live on plastic.