Being Poor

Written in 2012:

I've been wanting forever to do a blog post about being poor.  Probably something that will be funny in years to come, when the emotion is past.  It's hard to write a blog post about being poor, though, when you can't see anything because you are so poor that you haven't had your eyes checked in YEARS and your prescription is so outdated that even the computer screen is blurry.  I probably shouldn't be driving.  Oh, I can't wait to get my eyes checked...

And lots of other things I can't wait for...

But, Luke is gainfully employed now, so while we are still waiting for...eye exams and whatever else we have put off for the last 5 years...we are actively doing damage control, slowly filling in the well that we threw ourselves into until, like the donkey in the allegory, we walk out of the well under our own power.

I'm so blind I wonder how many typos are in this...

Anyway, here is our list of experiences over the past year that made us shake our heads and say, "Man, we are poor."

1.  EmJ's teacher lost the $6.00 I had sent in for a field trip.  I cried.  Sobbed actually.  Wondering where I was going to come up with six more dollars for that stupid field trip.

2.  Cringing, actually every. single. time the kids brought something home from school that was going to require that we pay a dollar or two.  Hiding from the room mom collecting monies for the teacher gifts at Christmas time, or better yet, volunteering to be in charge of putting together said gift so that my donation could simply be my time.  Oh, I got really good at that.   I also got good at saying, "We have our kids make their own gifts or cards for teachers and friends."  To which, parents said, "Oh, that's so good to give them that responsibility!"  But really, I was always feeling bad and wishing we could do more.

3.  Speaking of feeling bad and wishing we could do more.  How about all those wedding receptions we attended to get a free meal, but didn't actually bring a gift?  It's a good thing Luke always had a "future spouse" letter ('cause all the receptions were old seminary kids), so we weren't actually empty handed.

4.  Tae Kwon Do parties.  I don't know if you're aware, but Mormon potlucks are pretty nasty.  It's like we give our worst offering.  I'm not sure why, but we do.  Tae Kwon Do parties, however, are amazing.  The food is fabulous.  People are probably baking for days.  Anyway, thanks to Luke's undying love for Master Hwang and complete inability to say no to a plea for help, Luke ended up being the first to arrive and last to leave at all the TKD parties.  We've scored at least 6 solid weeks of tasty left-over treats from those parties over the years.

5.  Some of those tasty treats may have been regifted at Christmas time.

6.  Family dinners unattended because it cost too much gas.  (And Luke taking all the blame for "never wanting to be with the family.")

7.  Walking or biking any time our destination was close enough to walk.  Yeah, I like walking Nike hill.  So do my kids.  They don't complain or anything.

8.  Cringing when we forgot something somewhere and had to go back.  Oh, the gas money...

9.  Cringing whenever we heard people complain about money.  When they did it while shopping or eating fast-food, it was even more irritating.  Do you see my sack lunch, Big Mac?

10.  Bringing a sack lunch to a dinner or lunch date.  Seriously.  Every time.  We were just trying to be more "healthy".  Sure.

11.  Cannery bean soup.  Oh, somebody shoot me now.  Right now.

12.  The mannamobile.  Literally manna for us.  I am not sure if the amount of toast we have eaten can even be counted.

13.  Waiting until Saturday to go to Costco so that we could combine our shopping with a free lunch of "zamples!"

14.  Using up all the stamps that probably should have been saved as collector's items because we couldn't justify the money to buy real stamps.

15.  All the school/sports fund-raiser paperwork that got shredded in the hopes that I would forget there was a fundraiser and thereby not feel guilty for not participating.  Kind of hard when you are directly involved in said events.

16.  Panicking at every cut, bruise, cough, snotty nose, or worse.  Not for worry over the kids, but for worry about how much it is going to cost.  Panicking when Joshua ran the neighbors' motorcycle into a parked car.  Still waiting to see how that turns out financially.  Panicking when we thought Reillee broke her arm.  That one was probably a miracle.

17.  Haircuts.  What would I have done without Carly?  And oh, the times I didn't wait for Carly!  Sorry boys!

18.  Selling the TV to eat.  Then cracking up when a visitor said, "Oh, I wish I had known you were in the market for a TV!  We just bought a bigger one!"  Tried to sell the piano for food money, too.  Thankfully, the Lord saw fit to let us keep it instead.  Not that the kids would have missed it!

19.  Actually, He watched over us a lot.  Every minute.  Mostly, as is always the case, through others He met our needs.  Looking back it is truly amazing that we survived the last 5 years, and did so with only minor cuts and bruises.  How lucky we are to have a family and friends that are ready and willing, and to have a Father who is in the details.