Halloween candy - Every year that I got a satchel of candy, inevitably it would sit in that same satchel for years until ants got it. I could never bring myself to eat my candy.
Allowance - My $2.00/week allowance was saved scrupulously throughout childhood. I permitted myself one luxury a week, a pack of baseball cards (which I'll get to next). The rest was put away in my savings account not to be touched. By the time I was 12, I purchased my first mutual fund which subsequently dropped in value by 40% after 9/11.
Baseball cards - Once a week, we would stop by the PX (Post Exchange for civilians) and I would drop a precious quarter on a pack of baseball cards. I would arrange them in card protector sheets by team and then alphabetized by last name. I had no idea what was good and what was not good. I merely possessed them. I didn't know what an RBI was until well into high school.
The point is that I am a changed man. Those who know me now can probably see some of these childhood tendencies in me, but for the most part, I eat my cake. I advocate financial responsibility, but the childhood-version of Scott would not have absconded with his wife for a summer in Nicaragua. We would not travel to see friends in Chicago, Portland, and San Francisco. He would have not have quit his job to pursue a career in architecture.
Baseball cards - Once a week, we would stop by the PX (Post Exchange for civilians) and I would drop a precious quarter on a pack of baseball cards. I would arrange them in card protector sheets by team and then alphabetized by last name. I had no idea what was good and what was not good. I merely possessed them. I didn't know what an RBI was until well into high school.
The point is that I am a changed man. Those who know me now can probably see some of these childhood tendencies in me, but for the most part, I eat my cake. I advocate financial responsibility, but the childhood-version of Scott would not have absconded with his wife for a summer in Nicaragua. We would not travel to see friends in Chicago, Portland, and San Francisco. He would have not have quit his job to pursue a career in architecture.
All this said, I am proud to be a dynamic character in this story. We all have the propensity to change and engage life more than a sack of ant-ridden candy or an arbitrary collection of baseball cards.
