50. Grandpa Jenkins

When I was about 12, Grandpa Jenkins took us three kids to a department store near their home in California and said we could each pick out one thing. Anything we wanted.

I was old enough to know I probably shouldn’t try to spend ALL his money, and young enough to still want to. When was this chance ever going to come again?

Also as you may know I am a cheapskate, and even as a 12-year-old I knew the value of money. I got an allowance, and had to buy everything on my own dime. So this was a rare opportunity.

I wandered around keeping an eye out for just the right thing. Usually in this type of circumstance I might cave. To social pressures, to time pressures, to too many darned pressures! But I kept my cool and soon I came across just the right thing. A beautiful pair of Swedish clogs. That kind with the actual wooden sole that had white perforated leather for the top. They were perfection!

Why does this story stick in my mind? There are so many other things to remember about Grandpa Jenkins. He was a Freudian Psychiatrist. He was passionate about Bach. He lectured us about the privilege of voting. He did the New York Times crossword puzzle in ink. He wore Skin Bracer aftershave.

Partly this story stuck with me because it was so generous. Money was a tightly regulated commodity in our household.  You worked and you planned and you used it sparingly. This was totally outside the “laws of money” as I understood them.

It was also unexpected. I didn’t have work up to it or wait for it. It magically appeared out of the blue.

And it was just for fun! What can be better than that?