Pocket Change

From the beginning of time, we women have been trying to train our husbands as illustrated in this cute cartoon from Reverendfun.com.

Since I work with my spouse, I’m always interested in couples that work together so I can observe how they fare in life. When we had dinner with Rick and Barb, we laughed when Barb said that she would never trade in Rick for another guy. They’d been married a long time, and she said that she had him trained. I knew what she meant with her debilitating disease and the way that Rick gets up early and makes the coffee, breakfast and cares for their animals so she can take her time getting ready before they leave for work. I tried to train my husband once but it didn’t work.

My hubby had a habit of leaving loose change all over the house. I let him know this annoyed me, but pocket change continued to be on every shelf and in every nick and cranny. Once, he admired a carved, dark wooden gift box I purchased at a curio shop. When he smoothed his hands over the cutout design, I willingly gave him the box suggesting it would be a great place to store his miscellaneous items and LOOSE CHANGE. He filled it with restaurant receipts, matches, and credit cards. I found loose change on the coffee table, kitchen drawer, near the computer and even by the bathroom sink. Try picking up a penny or nickel coated with soap sitting in a puddle of water.

I attended a church service when we were visiting another town and enjoyed the sermon given by a visiting missionary from Africa that the church supports. To supplement his living, he sculpts safari animals. After the service, all his wares were for sale and I found a cup in the shape of an elephant with huge ears and a big, long trunk. My husband loved it! I didn’t want to keep nagging him, so I purchased the cup and suggested that he place his LOOSE CHANGE in it. Nope. It was only filled with pens, paintbrushes, paper clips, rubber bands and twist ties.

I don’t know when tide turned, but one day loose change was nowhere to be found. I noticed it when I was getting ready to fill my purse with quarters so I could wash the car and had to ask him if he had any change. To my amazement, he walked out of the den with a gallon of loose change. Not pretty but practical, a big ugly glass gallon jar with a rusty cap now held his loose change. My husband trained himself and that’s fine with me.