Show Me the Money

Last week we took the kids on Thursday to stay the night at Nana and Pop's while we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. The next morning Holt followed Pop outdoors to do some yard work. After a while of hard labor (well, harder than video games, for instance), Holt turned to Pop and said, "How 'bout we go inside and sit at the kitchen table and figure out how much you owe me?"

After a pause and a breath, Pop said, "Well, Holt, how much do you think all that was worth?"

"About $10", he said.

"That seems like a lot of money, Holt."

And then my son said, "I've been out here a half an hour, dude."

Yes, he said "dude." To my father-in-law. The Southern Baptist preacher from Mississippi. The one who tried to instill "sir" and "ma'am" into them as babies. And to his credit, he handled this remarkably well and chose to find this humorous. I give him immense applause for that.

Then Pop suggested they sit down and figure out how much each chore was worth and here is what they came up with. Pop listed the tasks and Holt supplied the prices:

picking up Dogwood limbs- $.10
picking up Maple limbs- $.20
shoveling dirt- $.30
filling up bird bath- $.10
cleaning out wheelbarrow- $.09
filling birdfeeders- $.20

When Pop added it up, the grand total came to 99 cents. Sadly, it was a far cry from Holt's $10, but Pop agreed to throw in an extra dollar and a penny along with 30 cents he owed Carolina for subcontracting out some of his work.

When Pop handed him the $2, Holt said, "And..."

"And what?"

"The 99 cents!"

So while he may be a business tycoon in the making, we are still working on the money counting skills. Seemingly, I've found his motivation. Donald Trump watch out.