The $95 Fortune

If like the Darwin family you have a growing family on a single income, I'm sure this story will sound familiar.

A week ago I did a favor for a client and was given a $95 AmEx gift check as a Thank You. Now, after arguing with myself concerning what the definition of is is, I decided that this wasn't exactly income, so we could treat it as extra money to spend on 'luxury' items. The possibilities seemed endless...

I considered the pump driven espresso machine I've been wanting for lo these many months, but that would have cost more than $95.

I considered the cask strength single malt scotch that a friend had recommended, but when that was discovered to cost $66 per bottle, I couldn't quite justify it.

In the end, I picked up two new pairs of Levis (the old ones were wearing through at the pockets), a bottle of potato vodka (most vodka these days is made from grain alcohol rather than potatoes, but one must do these things right) and some Bombay Dry Gin. I sent Mrs. Darwin out to Kohls with the remaining $30 and instructions to buy something cute, but she came back with a case of glass cups (the monkeys had broken all but one of our previous set), twelve dollars in change, and the news that none of the stuff at Kohls looked good on her.

Once the excitement was over, I started to think how odd it was that $95 seemed like such a fortune. After all, nearly thirty times that amount flows through our family's bank account every month. $95 really isn't that much money in the grand scheme of things. 1.5 weeks groceries. 8% of a morgate payment. Half of a summer electric bill. (Grrrrr, but then, quite a smaller fraction of the cost of replacing our aging air conditioner.)

The trick, I suppose, is that this was $95 that wasn't currently budgeted to be spent on anything else. Still, just for a couple days we were rich, with $95 to spend on whatever we wanted. Maybe some day...