Money

 For 25 years Nan lived 6 months in New York and 6 months in Florida. In order to stay in touch with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren she would send money. She would also send money to her sister's children and grand children, plus people who she met along her walk of life. As the immediate family grew to 60 she was running out of money for herself. Sometimes she would buy 40 one dollar lottery tickets to put into a Valentine, Easter, Birthday, Halloween, or Thanksgiving card. Christmas it was always a gift. There were no gift cards in those days. Believe it or not she would send cards to our ex-husbands and they would keep it.

As the older grandchildren became wise to her dilemma, they would open the card, hand their mother the check and write a thank you note. The Nan philosophy was, " Get a gift write a thank you note." It was drilled into her children and we were expected to drill it into our children and grandchildren. It happens with a few of them but the boys not so much. As the children turned to teenagers they worshiped Nan. They would call her often, stop by to see her, meet her at church or meet her at the dollar store. One more thing Nan did on a weekly basis. Buy lottery tickets, scratch off, daily, weekly and Powerball. She won small tokens a few times a year but never gave up. She played the same numbers every time. Her brother, who she lived with for a few years also payed his favorite numbers each time. Neither of them would do quick pick.

At the end of each month she had the same amount as the previous month "0". She never balanced her check book but she broke down and let the bank give her an ATM card. She did not want to use it all of her life it was "Cash or your don't get it". 

Nan hated when someone brought her flowers. She would rather have a pound of fudge from the New Jersey boardwalk, hot cup of coffee with cream & sugar, cinnamon bun cut in half and fried in butter, Reeses peanut butter cups, Hershey's kisses, red licorice sometimes black or a box of chocolates. She would plant flowers at the senior home where she lived the last ten years. They looked beautiful gracing the red brick building. She would take the flowers left over from Saturday or Sunday mass and put them on gravestone in the cemetery. They would just die on the alter after mass.

Her parents were on a tight budget most of their lives. My grandfather loved animals and had a favorite dog named Scout for 15 years. This was 1944. He loved that dog. The dog would walk him to the corner and come back to the porch to wait for him to come home each day. One day a taxi cab pulled up in front of my grandmother's house. Taxicabs were expensive and were mainly used for business people. The driver got out, walked around the cab and opened the door. Our prances Scout. He followed my grandfather to work one day so my grandfather put him in a cab and sent him home. Money well spent.

Drop a Dime?