My Presidential Friends

I'd like to talk about how quickly some  friends pass in and out of our lives: Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton, Jackson, Franklin, etc. It's different when you hold cash in your hands to purchase things you want and need. A close friend of mine shared her story this week about paying cash for groceries.  She said it made a difference in how much she thought about the total.  Instead of swiping a card, and casually mentioning how much she spent when she returned home from the store, she had to repeat the total.  The physical act of looking at the bills and counting the cash made her acutely aware of how much she spent. I chuckled because I always calculate the approximate total of my items cost as I shop.  Apparently, that is a rare phenomenon.  I've always shopped that way and I consider it a sort of game to see how close my rough estimate is to the exact total.  I can honestly say, that I'm usually within two dollars.  I've had to put things back before.  It is not embarrassing, it's smart shopping! At what point in our society did we go from "pride in swiping the card to buy it all", to "pride in showing we can make smart and healthy choices"? It's amazing how much difference it makes when you take cash to the store instead of your card.  Today, I will glance at my friends, Jackson and Lincoln, and remind myself how precious they are to me.  They don't mean the world, they aren't true friends, but, they are precious in their own right.  I worked hard for them to be here and for that, I will cherish their value.