For at least a week, when I was in the third grade, I was the most popular kid in school.
I grew up in a rural neighborhood in South Florida -- everyone had acreage and all of the roads were dirt. Nowadays that area is all paved and most of the new houses are like estates, but back then, most everyone owned a ranch style home with a pretty decent sized yard.
It was about a half mile trek to my busstop every morning - sometimes my mom would take me, but she would usually just drop me off, as she did on this one morning in particular. The bus was late (as usual), and my friend, Laura, and I started getting bored. I suggested that we look for money because there was nothing else to do.
Believe it or not, within a few minutes, I turned over an old piece of newspaper and found $100 bill! It was very old and dirty, but money is money! I didn't want to part with it, but Laura ran over and told her mom. Her mom insisted that she take the money to my mom, where it would be safe.
I was mad at the time (because I wanted to show it off), but looking back, I am so glad she did. Otherwise, I'm sure some 5th grader would have tried to steal it from me.
For at least a week after the incident, I was a hero. Kids would come up to me and ask if I was the girl who found $100 bill at the busstop. Neighbors went crazy scouring the busstop for more lost money. Everyone was talking about it.
That night, my parents took me shopping for clothes at the mall (I specifically remember getting at least one snazzy Garanimals outfit, maybe two) and then took the family out to dinner at Pizza Hut (won't go into details except to say this was a true treat because I was so bad in restaurants that they normally never took us out anywhere to eat). I want to believe that I got at least one toy from the money, but honestly can't remember. I'm sure whatever was left over, my mom pocketed for herself, but that can't be proven.
A few months later, I was waiting outside an S&H Greenstamps store for my mom and decided to look for money again. I found a buck, but that was the end of my "look for money and find some" streak. Still, you won't find me complaining!
Monday, March 20, 2006
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7 comments:
1) congrats on finding $100 when you were 10
2) why were you so bad in restaurants?
3) c'mon... i *know* you didn't wear geeky Garanimals! You, the fashionista?!?
4) Someone else who remembers the S&H Greenstamps stores!
5) hugs from me to you
1) I was actually only 8 when I was in the 3rd grade. I started school when I was 4.
2) I was just bad. I'd squirm and play with my food. Usually I'd end up underneath our table and then escape to subsequent tables and bother people. I don't think I did this when I was 8, but my parents had traumatic memories of my younger days, so they didn't take us out anywhere if they could help it.
3) Dude, I loved my Garanimals. Everyone wore them up through 3rd grade. It was the late 70's/early 80's - what can I say?!?
4)Yes, my mom collected greenstamps like a mad fool. It made her a Publix shopper.
5) Back at'cha
The S&H Greenstamps store!! Oh the thrill of it! I can't believe Publix ended it. I used to be in charge of licking the stamps (why?) and putting them in the books. Oh what fun it was to save the books and trade them for something.
Hey, you should play the lottery!
I think i found a 20 once, and a ten a few years ago. nothing as lucky as a 100. your comment about your behavior in restaurants reminded me of how my sister and i were in church. we were loud, we played with toys, and we never sat still. i dunno why my parents didn't make us sit in the nursery until we were teenagers. woulda saved them a lot of embarrassment and there would have been less yelling in a whisper.
Hmmm, maybe I should take YOU to the casino with me instead of my husband!!
When we still lived in VA, we were getting money out of the ATM, but instead of $40, the machine dispensed a twenty and a one-hundred dollar bill. I know I should have returned the money to the bank, but it was Sunday, so the bank was closed, and I figured the bank wouldn't miss $80 the way a person would.
Maybe if I'd played the lottery when I was 8, I'd be rich right now! That streak ran out a loooooong time ago! Damnit!
Kasey - I was in charge of licking the stamps too! I always wanted my mom to get the sewing machine, but there was no chance of that happening, which meant I always had to have those cheap, plastic storebought Halloween costumes with the awful masks.
Becky - my husband and I are STILL embarassing in chuch sometimes (but only if we are in a church other than our own, and usually only if his mom is present). It's just so hard to sit through a whole mass!
Karyl - I would have done the same thing! You go girl! :D
1.) A - please stop reminding us that you are still a spring chicken.
2.) Homemade costumes weren't all that great...I begged for a plastic one and in the 6th grade I finally got one. Hey, we dressed up all the way through elementary school (our elem. went through 6th grade)...what can I say.
3.) I got sent an extra $225 gold bracelet from QVC once (with my Marineland saved money, no less!) and my mom tried like 2 or 3 times to send it back, but they kept exchanging it and sending it back! Finally I told her it was meant to be and to just keep it. I think Carolyn got it.
4.) Garanimals are back! Yep. I dressed K. and A. in them when they were toddlers...great play clothes and I think they are only like $3 or $4 a piece!
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