Monday, October 6, 2008

What's Valuable

As we sort through some of the things Grandaddy left behind and try to decide what to do with them, the economy around us has crashed. About the only thing we own that is intrinsically worth more today than it was last week is some silverware, and then only if it were melted down, something I would really hate to see happen. It’s hard to decide that things that belonged to your parents, perhaps even your parents and great-parents, or maybe even great, great, great, great-grandparents are no longer worth the effort it might take to sell them at a garage sale.

I knew things were crazy beginning about four years ago and decided that the time in my life for acquisitions was probably over. I replace the things that are essential, but my definition of essential is even in transition. Would I dare paying almost a thousand dollars for that really good looking jacket at my friend’s home-boutique? Nah. For a pair of really comfortable shoes or jeans? Well, I’d at least think about it.

Even Walker realizes that things are crazy when he sees how much of his paycheck it takes to buy things he’s become used to having. He’s reluctant to blow too much of his paycheck on a movie, so he almost never goes to see the same movie again as he once loved to do. He asked me last night to search on E-bay for something, but when he saw the prices, backed off.

Want to see how crazy things have gotten? http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/catalog/prod.jhtml?itemId=prod61860014&parentId=cat2720733&masterId=cat000226&index=0&cmCat=cat000000cat000141cat000149cat000226cat2720733

And those probably aren’t the most expensive ugly shoes out there.

Some of the things I treasure today are:
The smile on Owen’s face as I obeyed his orders to pull up the Barney songs on my computer
William’s poring over the Halloween costumes in the Sunday ads
Robert answering my silly e-mails
John rushing in to hug me
Becket enjoying our mini burgers and wanting more
Charlie sitting beside me in the sun wanting his ears scratched
My husband letting me know when he's running late
My friend Sally being back home

I hope we continue to have enough. I hope we can someday make sure that everyone has enough.

Blessings,
Janie

1 comment:

Unknown said...

That's so funny that you showed that shoe! I saw it in an even more unflattering photo (if that's possible) and couldn't imagine what human being would pay money for that...what a joke!