What Seemingly Small Thing Changed Your Life Forever?

What seemingly small thing changed your life forever?

This topic comes from a Delve Deck card. I use the deck when my mind is blank about what to write about. After all, do you really want to know that I spent my morning preparing and cooking two dishes from my High Protein – High Fiber Meal Prep Guide? For those answering, “Yes!” I prepared the Vegetable and Black Bean Enchiladas and the Lentil and Barley Soup. Both will keep Joe and I fed for breakfasts, lunches, and a possible dinner this coming week.

My moment of joy for the day: A shout out to my AWESOME niece, Renee, who is celebrating her fortieth birthday today. I know she celebrated last week with her mom, dad, and sister, Jami. Jami asked family and friends to write a favorite memory of Renee and then Jami presented the writings to Renee for her birthday. What a cool gift! 

Back on topic...

What seemingly small thing changed your life forever?

The first thing that popped into my head comes from an experience when I was twenty-one years old. It is embarrassing to write about; however, I do try for authenticity in my writing. Also, a bit of vulnerability never hurts,

I had been working at Scottdel in Woodland for about six months when we were short of money. Like most young people starting out my first husband and I were living paycheck to paycheck. At the time I made $425.00 a month as a receptionist, my husband may have been making $600 to $800 a month before taxes. With rent of $300 a month, a car payment, car insurance, utilities, gasoline, and groceries we had zero savings. That is the background.

I fixed simple meals, we did not eat out, we did not party. Our only spends outside of essentials were for the Sacramento Bee subscription (I had to have my newspaper!) and materials for my husband’s model sailplane hobby. In those days most of our socializing was done with his parents and their friends or with people living in our apartment complex. We did not spend money to party.

One week I ran out of money for food. We had popcorn. That was it. It was two days before my payday, and I made the decision to ask the California co-owner of Scottdel for an advance against my paycheck for $10.00 to get groceries. It was extremely hard for me to even do this as I had been on my own financially since I was eighteen years old. I had worked since I was fourteen. My wages as a teenager went to the household budget while I got to keep my tips. I did not borrow money from anyone, ever, at this point. Nor did my husband. We made do.

In asking for a two-day advance, I believed I had already earned the money – it was just a matter of timing of the paycheck.

When I asked the company for the advance, the response I got was this, “Did someone in your family die? Do you have a medical emergency?” To both of those questions I answered no.

“Then you will figure it out and learn to budget.”

I felt mortified. I felt humiliated. We ate popcorn for two days.

In the entire scheme of things, this was a small event that changed my life and how money got spent going forward. I worked for Scottdel for eight more years until they sold the California plant to a large corporation.

I came to think of the man who told me I would figure it out as my mentor. He taught me a lot of things over the years and that may have been my most valuable lesson. Do not ask for help from others, figure it out myself. And like most things I probably took it more to heart than others might.