Day 166: Think before you pull out your wallet parents

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 166: Think before you pull out your wallet parents

My friends and I got together the other day. Alice was not in a good mood, in fact, she was fuming mad.

“Get this,” she came straight to the point, “Margaret’s maternity leave is almost finished, and she doesn’t want to go back to work. She wants to be a stay at home mom. She’s a qualified chartered accountant and now she wants to quit her job!”

“Do what I did,” Victoria said, placing a calming hand on Alice’s arm. “The very same thing happened with my eldest daughter Cindy. She studied law, passed the bar exam and got hired by one of the big law firms of Toronto. A month later she and Eric got married and three months after that she got pregnant. When it was almost time to go back to work, she announced that she wasn’t going to, that she was going to be a stay at home mom.”

I said “That’s fine honey, but I invested in your future by paying your tuition, amounting to close to $200,000. Now you have a choice, you either go back to work or you are going to pay me back. I won’t charge you interest, but if you’re gonna throw your future away, I want that $200,000 to be paid back to me. And not with $20 a month, we’ll set up a payment plan. We make the amount payable over 10 years, which will amount to $1,666 per month.”

She started laughing and wondered where in the world she was going to get $1,666 a month. I said, “Well honey, that’s your problem. But that’s how it is.”

When she saw I wasn’t joking, that I was in fact deadly serious she wasn’t laughing anymore. When her maternity leave finished, she returned to work. Problem solved.”

I don’t have that problem with my daughter, Angela,” Maggie piped up. “I wouldn’t mind a grandchild, but when I talked to Ruby about it she was having none of it. “Do you think I put myself through university, studied my ass off and worked two jobs just to chuck it all away in a kid?” she said. “Forget it, mom.”

It seems to me that the problem lies with the parents. If mommy and daddy pay for tuition the son or daughter is more likely to chuck their career at the first opportunity than if the student pays out of his or her own pocket. They know what it took to get where they are and are more likely to appreciate it. 

Think before you pull out your wallet parents!

Day 80: Fundraiser for Holly

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 80: Fundraiser for Holly

2017 didn’t end well for us and 2018 is not off to a great start. Remember how we lost Mickey at the beginning of December? As if the loss wasn’t bad enough, the cost made a serious dent in our financials. Between the doctor’s consultation, the X-rays, the euthanasia and the cremation expense, this tragic episode cost us in the region of $600.

Now yesterday we had to spend another $500.

On Wednesday, Toronto got a break from the freezing temperatures and enjoyed a glorious sunny day of a whole 7 degrees C (44 deg F). Whether it was the mildness of the day or the sunrays, we’ll never know, but Holly was desperate to go out on the balcony. She sat by the sliding door, meowing, looking at me and adding a few decibels to her meow.

I didn’t see any harm in letting her out. It had been called for days, after today the temperature would dip down again, so she might as well take advantage of this ‘warm’ sunny break and get a breath of fresh air. So, I opened the door. Holly tentatively stuck her nose outside, followed by the rest of her head and then paw per paw stepped outside. Less than five minutes later she came back in, the fresh air was obviously a bit too fresh.

The next day Holly started to sneeze. Whether it was the cold air or something else, who knows, but Holly now had a cold. At first I didn’t think anything of it, after all, everyone catches a cold from time to time and gets over it in due time, but in Holly’s case, it went from bad to worse. When she stopped eating and drinking I knew it was time to take her to the vet.

Since Halley was due for her second inoculation, an appointment was made for her too.

At the vet’s Halley was checked first: heart, lungs, ears, eyes, joints, fleas, and finally two injections.

Up next, Holly, and she too had her heart and lungs listened to. When her temperature was taken, it turned out that she had a fever. She got medication and the vet suggested a change in her diet. Apparently, the food we’re giving her (I won’t mention any brands) is not good and we have to switch to something better.

When I was presented with the bill, I nearly needed medication (for my heart) … $491. Why, oh why did I give up on my dream to become a vet? Not only would I have made a ton of money, but I would have saved a considerable amount on my own lot.

Anyway, a friendly woman who knows about my 2017 and now 2018 vet expenses suggested that I ask for financial assistance through ‘Go Fund Me’. Asking for money! I was horrified by the thought, I’d never asked anyone for money (except when I do the annual Toronto Cat Rescue fundraiser), but never anything personal.

“Oh get over yourself,” she said. “Lots of people do it for lots of different reasons. Go for it. What do you have to lose?”

So I did. I created a fundraiser named 'Holly's medical expenses'. https://www.gofundme.com/m74s3q-hollys-medical-expenses

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