Lasting Value

Two days ago, I FINALLY cashed in on a gift certificate that I got two Christmases ago. I went to a salon and got a pedicure and manicure. It was my first ever experience with either of these luxuries (which might shock many women my age). The reason I waited so long to cash in was that I felt like something as fancy as a pedi/mani needed an "occasion." Nothing super important ever came up that I felt was worthy of such a treatment until NOW. Tomorrow we get on our plane to head off for a wonderful vacation to the Bahamas. So I figured that I'd get my nails done so I would look and feel amazing for our trip. The manicure looked great, and I LOVED the pedicure!

Then I went home. Within two hours of just being a mom, three of my poor fingernails had the paint chipped. I almost cried. I had waited for almost a year and a half for this wonderful gift, only to have nothing but chipped paint to show for it just two hours later! I know, I can just repaint them, but I was hoping it would last a little longer than TWO HOURS!

This made me think about value--and what I value. And I'm pretty certain that I won't ever pay for a manicure again. (By the way, the pedi has been hidden inside socks and still looks great!)

However, there ARE things that I am willing to pay for--like everything we'll be doing this next week. Sometimes, I can see the confusion on faces when I tell them that we are going on a cruise. Without them saying anything, I can hear the questions in their mind--"What? Aren't you the girl who won't pay more than $10 for jeans? Don't you pack a sack lunch for your kindergartener every day because school lunches are too expensive? And haven't you been using just one purse for seven years because you don't want to spend any money to get a better-looking one?" My answer to those questions is, "Jeans wear out no matter what I pay. School lunch comes out the other end within a day just the same as a sack lunch. And the purse I have works just wonderfully, regardless of how it looks." Those things don't matter to me, and I don't see any lasting value in them. I also look at them as ways I can save money so that I can use my money for things that are actually important to me, like spending six days with just Tony, strengthening our relationship, seeing and experiencing things that we never have before, and creating memories that will last a lifetime. To me, this has VALUE.

So the next time I'm in a restaurant (eating out my allotted once a month), and the waitress asks me what I'd like to drink, I will answer, "Water," and then think about the money I just put toward our next vacation!