Monday Memories...My DAD'S lesson learned

My parents always tried to teach us kids the value of a dollar. I remember my Dad teaching me how to use a lawn edger at a pretty young age (about ten) and telling me to take it door to door and tell people I would edge their yards for a couple of bucks. I remember doing it - begrudgingly. I was never the "salesman" type. I would have been much more comfortable saying, "Hey, let me edge your yard as a random act of kindness," or better yet: "Hey, I will pay you a dollar if you let me practice my lawn edging skills on your front yard," but asking people to pay me was a problem. Still is to this day!

I remember one time, while visiting the local "Costco" type store, my Dad asked me if I wanted to learn a little about making money. He showed me a huge box of candy bars (I still remember, they were Butterfingers) and said that he would buy me that entire box of about 50 candy bars, and I could turn around and sell them to people, any way I saw fit, and I could keep the profit earned after paying my dues back to him. I remember thinking it may not be the greatest idea to give a ten year old girl 50 candy bars... especially one who already made it clear she was not the "salesman" type, as well as one who was fairly "junk food" deprived. Now, I realize that is not a real deprivation, but if it had been one, I would have had it. I did grow up as a poor little white girl, you know, (not to be mistaken with the increasingly popular "poor little white-trash girl" - she's had plenty of junk food). Anyway - I decided to go in on the business endeavor with my father. He bought the candy bars, gave them to me and told me to have fun. I only remember eating two of the candy bars myself... but I didn't even sell ONE of them! I just couldn't ask my friends to PAY me for something that I was so excited to just GIVE them! It was well worth the $10 my Dad had paid to have such a good feeling in my heart and to make so many peoples' days a little happier (as much as a free candy bar can!) Dad, I still plan on paying you back someday when I have ten bucks to spare!