Beneath the Wraps

            My first daughter-in-law is a lot more creative and frugal with money than I have ever been.  Both skills I am certain that she learned from her mother who was able to make her husband ’ s paycheck stretch among feeding seven children and providing for medical and clothing needs.  I don ’ t know what her dad did for a living, but I highly suspected that there had been struggles.  I, unfortunately, never got to know her mom as she passed two months after Tony and Rochelle were married.            Roland sent each of the boys a check to use for Christmas gifts this year.   I don ’ t like going to the post office in December as it is.   And we always end up spending more on shipping than for the items themselves. Of course this year presented even more challenges.   For the last couple of years we have sent out gifts to Tony ’ s family and sometimes my sister.   ...

            When I married Roland, I not only gained a new husband but three sons as well.   At the time they were 11, 14, and the 12-year-old had just turned 13.   They are now 29, 31 and 32.   My eldest two have no concept of money.   My youngest consider money a huge priority.   My eldest and youngest boys have had a number of jobs for different reasons.   Biff either can’t hang on to a job or gets bored with it and finds something else never allowing for the opportunity of benefits – like dental insurance.             The youngest one came home from his mission and decided he was going to go to BYU and major in business.   He decided to take a job at a local credit union.   He was there for six weeks and decided to find a job that would pay more.   He decided he would be a doctor, a podiatrist, a surgeon, a heart doctor . . ...

                I always thought I was unique about seeing faces in patterns or saying a certain vegetable or color that is not the same one that everybody else thinks of.   Jenna has watched a lot of "Brain Games" and as I have watched it with her, I have discovered that I fall into the norm.   What?!   I don't want to be normal.   I want to embrace my differentness.   What differentness?                 Last night Roland and I were watching 20/20 (found here and here ) in which Diane Sawyer interviewed a number of people and took us into a piece of their lives and I cried about the struggles of the average American working hard for so little - holding multiple jobs just to stay afloat.   And that is what most of us are doing - just staying afloat.         ...