I popped a button on a pair of pants today, a sure sign I should probably work out a little harder and eat a little less. They say your metabolism slows down every seven years. I think mine has taken a nose dive. I remember as young man I could eat a mixing bowl of mashed potatoes and a quart of ice cream and I weighed 165 lbs dripping wet. I think my left leg weighs that much now. I went to the gym tonight, and had a Subway sandwich for dinner without mayonnaise or cheese, so I should be in shape in a couple of days.
What's not in shape is my finances. Like the entire country I need to go on a credit diet. I have way too much debt. The dumbest decision I ever made, other than marrying my third ex-wife, who could throw a conniption fit if a child jostled an imitation Tiffany lamp, was buying the Vista Cruiser. No working man should have a $400 car payment. It was absolutely ridiculous decision, utterly crippling and illogical. I've done a good job and made all the payments on time, but there are about 33 to go. I bought the car for our first date, to impress a girl. A thoroughly romantic and foolish thing for a grown man to do. But it was the best first date in history, driving that pretty blonde girl in the moonlight with the top down. What's six years of an exorbitant car payment next to that? A poet once wrote, "spend all you have for loveliness." I'm not sure which poet anymore, though I used to know. In the words of the immortal Casey Stengel, you could look it up.
Sarah Teasdale, and I only had to look it up to make sure my leaky memory had it right.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, the name of the poem is "Barter," the implication being that you give something in return for what you get.
In these uncertain times, when so many of us are necessarily focused on our bank accounts, 401(k) balances and job prospects, we would do well to remember the rest of the line:
"Buy it and never count the cost,
for a breath of ecstasy,
Give all you have been, or could be."
In other words: Life is short. Live the love you feel.
Problem is we don't just spend "what we have" but more than we have. That's the problem.
ReplyDeleteAs Dave Ramsey always says, "Sell hte car!"
ReplyDelete