A DOLLAR A DAY

What if everyday of your life costs you one dollar?

This is an interesting concept that a very dear friend of mine created (or so he’s made me believe) and I would like to share it with you today.

The four of us sat sipping wine one evening listening to John Denver CD’s (that’s Compact Discs for the younger readers) on the miniature, portable CD/ Radio player. The metal campfire cage grew hot on that summer night. The flames turned blue and hot coals made for a perfect place to cook a hot dog or brown a marshmallow for smores…that is until the rain fell from the heavens.

I remember telling my older friends to relax, the fire is hot and it would stay lit; so I grabbed a few umbrellas, put the dogs in the house, and we continued to enjoy the fire in partially dry chairs, all while laughing a bit too hard that the animals were inside while we sat in the rain.

Later that evening and out of nowhere, Don exclaimed, “Today was a good dollar spent.”

I, of course was intrigued, and maybe a bit over-served when I asked, or possibly slurred, what the heck he was talking about. His response was simple and went something like this…

*****

Let’s say you were born with only so many dollars and each of those dollars represented a day spent alive. You don’t know how many dollars you were given; so, it’s important to use them wisely, every day. Look at this evening, we enjoyed some wine together, we sang songs, and laughed as we sat under umbrellas by a campfire while our dogs stared at us through the storm door from inside.

Today was a good dollar spent.

I’ve spent more dollars than I have left in my jar, which makes my remaining days all the more important.   

*****

I’m willing to wager that a good dollar spent can mean something different to each person. Maybe it’s as simple as enjoying an evening with friends.

Maybe you had that happy feeling when helping an elderly woman get a bundle of bottled water from the grocery store’s top shelf, as she complained in her creaky old-person voice, “Why do they put the sale water so high?”

Maybe you’ve helped a co-worker finish a report that they procrastinated on even though you told them twelve times over twelve days that they needed to get going on those numbers.

Maybe you’re a newly graduated phlebotomist and poked a vein only once that day, when normally it takes three tries and a crying person threatening to call for a “real” nurse.

Maybe you didn’t flip anyone off in rush hour traffic.

Or maybe it’s as simple as taking the hyper dogs for a walk and realizing that the sun is warm and the breeze is light.

I’ve come to realize that not all days will feel like that dollar was worth it. Some days I try too hard to find the good in that day. And there may be times when all I can muster is a good Fifty Cents.

Call me crazy, but I think we have the ability and capability to interpret whether a dollar was spent well today. It’s up to us. It’s always up to us to determine if we’ve loved this one day on earth. Because the more days we can find something positive, the more fulfilling each day becomes.