In this age of plastic money, do children still know the joy of counting up change to see if you can afford something you want? I know, I could afford it no matter what, but there is something visceral in counting pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters that still brings a smile to my heart. Seeing all those shinies in stacks and piles, knowing the value of each, it still thrills me. I don't know if kids know that simple pleasure any more. I will note I was born at a time when you could get multiple packs of bubblegum for a penny (I remember when Bazooka went from 3 pieces to 2).
I'm not sure counting Chucky-E-Cheese tickets is the same thing. First off, they don't have the weight coinage has. There's also not the thrill of discovering a new facing on the money or an especially old date. Tickets don't weigh you down with their gravity. There's no real smell to tickets (or there shouldn't be) like coins smell as they're handled.
Oh, and it was $55.38, which means I can get my honey that gift. So there was also the joy in that. Yes, I was going to buy it anyway. It's an easier decision (and it made me feel a little younger) when I know I have the cash in hand (which will be translated into a gift certificate and then into the gift itself).
I don't use cash that often anymore, so I don't collect that much change. This would be the various pieces of change I've collected for almost two years now. Which is another thing I wonder if kids are missing. Cash was hard, real, in your face when I was young. Pricing, however, could be all over the board and wasn't very real (or realistic). Now money is the same way.
Oh, and since we're talking about it, "Git offa my lawn!" :: shakes cain in general direction ::
It wasn't all I did. It's not like I Scrooge McDucked into the piles ($55, mostly in quarters, isn't much of a pile to begin with). I also did cleaning and woodworking (rebuilt one of the tables, created a new one, smaller top but taller legs). Also I notice I couldn't keep the tally in my head as well as I used to. While I've always stacked them in denominations (quarters in dollar stacks, pennies in tens), I had always been able to keep track of what I had counted. This time I needed the stacks to confirm what I had in my head.
2 comments:
I don't use cash much, either, but like you I enjoy counting and rolling coins.
Actually, you're doing better than me. I have always stacked my quarters in dollar stacks and pennies in tens, and I have always double-checked as I put the coins in a roll.
Three cheers for getting a gift for your honey! My honey recently received from me a fun film (hooray for $2 discards at the local library!) and some organic cotton socks. He likes to be surprised, so he receives gifts throughout the year but not at typical gift-giving occasions (holidays, birthday, anniversary). More fun that way!
Giving gifts is the best. It's a book. Shh, don't spoil the surprise. :)
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