Beneath the Wraps

Long before I was born my grandpa took the opportunity to invest in oil lands.   From my understanding his investment had paid for a certain amount of land which different companies would lease in order pump out oil and distribute under their name.   I had heard of Shell, Amacco, Texaco and Conoco but there were many other names that I did not recognize.   I don ’ t know how often checks were written to each share holder but each check would bear the name of the company who had leased the land.   After my grandpa had died the checks were made out to my grandmother.   When she died she had made arrangements that each of her children would get 30% of the royalties and the remaining ten percent would be divided among her then eleven grandchildren. I never saw what my parents were getting, but the checks made out to us had always come with a mountain of paperwork.   We had always found it to be such a great waste of money that it would often cost more to send...

            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 . . ...