A Penny Saved…

OK, I’ll confess it. I suck at money. Numbers. Finances. Math. All that stuff. How did I produce a child who became an accountant? Good fortune (pun intended), perhaps? 

I had a basic knack for living within my means when I was a kid with a $10/week allowance plus lawn-mowing money from Grandpa in the summer. No idea where extra cash came from in the winter – surely not from shoveling snow, at least not that I recall.

A week’s allowance would fill the tank of my 1971 Super Beetle and last about two weeks. During the school year I stretched the $10 from the alternate weeks into lunches of my choice at school. I could have taken a lunch for free from home, and sometimes did, but $1.05 bought a six-pack of Hostess Doughnuts, a Hostess Fruit Pie and a carton of orange drink. Yeah, that really was my diet pretty much daily through high school; thanks to a teenager’s metabolism I stayed skinny and didn’t break 145 until well after graduation.

Well, it doesn’t work that way now. Neither fiscally nor metabolically. My money tends to disappear before I know I had it and the calories are happy to linger like unwanted relatives at the holidays. Oh, I try on both fronts, but not very hard. But I suppose I make more of an effort than some and have more success than some, so pat me on the back. Or don’t. I know there’s room for improvement – more room than a Gulf Coast hotel at the height of hurricane season.

Anyway, I understand the importance of money. And ironically, for my often poor stewardship of funds, I am quite frugal. And I’ll stop on a dime to pick up a penny. The financial gain is part of why I pick up aluminum cans when I run – when I pick up stuff, which I haven’t done much lately. Anyway, today I did stop for a penny. I think just to have something to list in my Treasure category below. I noted it was a 2001 and stamped with a D, indicated it was a product of the Denver Mint.

I toured the Denver Mint back in 1996 when my parents paid for me to take a trip to see my favoritefootball team play a game. I remember parking about 12 blocks from the Mint (probably in a free lot, or at least the cheapest I could find) and walking to the mint. Arriving at the mint I read the sign at the door prohibiting weapons and realize I have to hike back to the car to deposit my Buck knife for safe-keeping. I returned in time to make the final tour of the day.

I left with the impression that Denver minted nothing but pennies. Were that so then, it is not so now. Perhaps the Denver Mint simply mints coins and no paper currency. Whatever the case, my memory is what it is, and I imagined at the time the ridiculous amounts of security at a mint that produced nothing but one-cent coins. What an absurd crime, to rob a national mint of millions of pennies. ‘Twould be a humorous tale, however.

When I visited Sweden in 2004 as part of the Rotary District 6460 Group Study Exchange, the penny played an important role in my ambassadorship. Members of the GSE team were encouraged to take with them gifts for their hosts, preferably items that spoke of their hometowns. I, of course, leaned on Carl Sandburg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author conveniently of Swedish descent. I procured some mementos from the Sandburg Birthplace, including a handful of oversized reproductions of Lincoln pennies that came in paper sleeves with Sandburg’s homage in support of Lincoln’s visage on the copper penny.

The penny came up tonight in conversation with two of my daughters at Kastle Kreme, a local ice cream stand of some legend. Amanda, daughter No. 2, reiterated her dislike of that smallest of coinage denominations: “I hate pennies,” she said matter-of-factly. At times I question their purpose, and then I am reminded of Sandburg’s words. Lincoln may grace the $5 note, but the penny is where he belongs. We would pay him a grave injustice to strip him of that honor.

Today's Stats

Temp: 69 degrees F

Distance: 5.71 miles

Weekly Total: 5.71 miles

Treasure: 1 penny (2001, Denver mint)

iPod Playlist (Shuffle):

Day or Night – The Call

One of These Things First – Nick Drake (From the "Garden State" soundtrack)

If I Fall – Matchbox Twenty

More Than a Feeling - Boston

Everybody Wants You – Billy Squier

Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 6-9 – Pink Floyd

Push – Avril Lavigne

Only Heart – John Mayer

The New Love Song – Joshua James (Saw this guy at RibCo in Rock Island a few years ago on St. Patty's Day - pretty damned good.)

El Farol - Santana

Time and Time Again – Counting Crows

Girlfriend is Better – Talking Heads

Perhaps, Perhaps,Perhaps - Cake

A Last Request (I Want Your Sex Part III) – George Michael

Facts of Life – Billy Squier