Once a month or so

I recall my dad pulling down this old coffee can where the bills were collected. He’d sit at the kitchen table and carefully sort through them, double check they were accurate, and then write checks to pay them. I haven’t thought about this in many years, but it was a regular part of growing up. And we certainly knew better than to interrupt daddy when he had that can sitting in front of him!

I thought of it today when I was double-checking our checking account on the phone. It hit me: money “appears” in my account on payday and then bills are paid automatically throughout the month. We do check to make sure they’re accurate (well, okay, truth is that CINDI checks to make sure), but its all so effortless. The result is that the hassle of monetary dealings has all but vanished. Money is something that we almost never have to give any effort to anymore: either cashing and depositing paychecks or writing checks. Even when the odd check arrives [how quaint!], we deposit it electronically. Snap the picture of it and off it flies to our account. 

I wonder so often what on earth my mom and dad would make of this crazy world. I think THIS is one area they’d fall in love with. I don’t think my dad enjoyed his monthly session with the coffee can, but he faithfully did it, nonetheless. 

And while I’m on it, another daddy memory. When I graduated from high school he and mom gave me a gift, but I knew he selected it. It was a silver watch, with a blue face. I’ve thought of it several times in the past few weeks as I’ve settled on a strikingly similar face blue face for my Apple Watch. At first I wasn’t sure why it gave me such pleasure. Then I remembered. And smiled.