It's only money!

It has been a long time since I have written......almost a year!  Some have asked why I haven't written and there is no reason, just life taking over. Usually when I blogged I would have an inspiration or the idea would come easily to me and for some reason, the ideas or easy writing just haven't flowed. 

This morning, however, inspiration came easy! Lindsay was getting ready to go to "homework", aka. her day program. Our routine is simple. I wake her up, she asks about Grr, she slowly gets up to roll into our bed for a few more restful moments with Grr. We talk about the day, that everyone has "homework" and that we need to get ready. Brushing teeth, hair, picking out our clothes and loading up the purses for a full day's work. If you have read an earlier blog, you know how she likes her purses!  Part of "my" routine is trying to be sneaky and discard any extra baggage, lighten the load, so to speak. She doesn't usually notice accept for when I find the whole entire package of oreo's or candy in her bag, something she sneaked in for a midnight snack.

This morning, I find the usual stack of papers, wallets, flip flops and lots of torn papers, fyi a future blog topic. In the bunch of torn papers, I find a dollar bill, torn up as well. Not sure where she found it but it was torn up along with all the others. To her, it is just paper. To me, it's money. I was a little irritated, the thought of a dollar bill torn up, never to be used again. I explained to her that we can't tear up money, that it is what we buy pop and burgers with. She didn't seem to be too concerned.

I started thinking. Although she knows that we need "pour" (her word for money) to pay for things like burgers and pop, she didn't have the attachment to the money like I did. Why did I place so much value on that $1 bill, when I don't think about the value of it when I want something that I don't really need. Or when I won't do something because of how much money it will cost. I placed value on that $1 bill that she didn't. I was attached to it and she wasn't.

It was a realization that money is only as valuable as we as a person or society believes it to be. We use it to compare ourselves to others, we feel the need for more of it, get stressed over it, we judge others over it and feel the burden that having it or not having it brings. Lindsay, however, was free of the burden of having that extra dollar bill. She didn't need a burger or pop today, was not attached to what it could do for her, didn't need it to make herself feel better nor did she feel the least bit of regret at tearing it up.

I realize that our Lindsay doesn't understand the full concept of money, why we need it, etc but it just made me realize how much we attach to the almighty dollar. Just like the paper that she tears up, that extra bill in her wallet, was just that......an extra piece of paper.....a reminder to me this morning, that it is only money.