Naturally I blew it all on coke and whores! PAR-TAY! Just kidding.
Yeah so this weekend Danielle and I spent a disgusting amount of time figuring out how much money we have from scholarships and how many months it will last. Then we figured out how much I should earn each month from both jobs combined. Then we figured out our non-essential needs like Alex's dance stuff and Danielle's geek supplies (like her hundred dollar calculators and stuff). Then we got way confused and started again from the beginning because what we came up with made no sense. Then we called Alex over to double-check our work because it still didn't make sense.
Alex came out with the same conclusion we did. Which is that after rent and groceries and transportation and all our non-essential needs, we will still have money left over. Like every month. Alex and I were all about saving because if we save enough months in a row that'll pay for like a whole new month of rent. Danielle was like, "We should throw a party!" Um no.
We finally agreed that we will blow one month's leftover money on one thing each of us chooses. Danielle wants us to each get our own nail polish. Normally we all agree on one color and share that bottle until it's used up
, then get a new one. Now she wants choices. I want to get flowers. Alex wants us to all go out to eat. At a real restaurant, like a family.Danielle and I stared at Alex in shock. We've hung out in coffee shops together, and while I worked at the diner sometimes all three of us were there, but I don't think we've ever really formally gone out to eat.
Josh was in the living room studying the entire time this was going on and when Alex said her choice he got up and his face was all dark and he left, like he was angry. So I caught up with him in the hallway and before I could say anything Josh held his hand up and was like "No, I can't talk to you now," so I went back inside.
Maybe an hour later he called and asked me to meet him downstairs, outside. Josh didn't look angry anymore, just weird. He took my hand and we walked, crunching on the leaves. After a couple of blocks Josh told me that he knew that my sisters and I had a system for how we do money, but it's really hard for him to stay out of things when all my sisters want is nail polish and a nice dinner out. "Flowers? Come on Sam, you know I'll get you flowers. Danielle can have a different nail polish for each day of the month." Then Josh said sometimes he forgets how we live and then he hears us talking for hours about things he never even thinks of and it throws him.
I tried to tell him it means more to us the way we're doing it. That if he got Danielle 30 bottles of nail polish they wouldn't mean as much to her as her getting one that's all hers. Josh cut me off and said he knew and he is just thrown by how extremely opposite places we come from. It was a half really awkward and half really mushy talk.
When we got back home right before we walked in I reminded Josh not to buy Danielle any nail polish. But then I told him he can get me flowers if he really wants to.
4 comments:
Somehow, this post made me want to cry. I don't know..
Reading about how family meant so much to all of you, and how, you've lost half of them at one go.. things I've taken for granted, like, eating out in the restaurant, all nine of us as a family, which might not going to happen anymore, because my dad is unwell, well, there's plenty others. Perhaps I'm going to write about this feeling I have. I haven't touched my blog for days..
Anyway, enjoy the flowers when they're given to you. I've been with my boufriend for nearly 4 years, and he never gave me any. Haha. (and I love to remind him about that, which he would, of course, just brush aside.)
On a tangentially related note, I was in a similar situation when I was first in school and what nobody told me was that excess scholarship income is taxable. Anything above your school expenses is treated as regular income, unless they've changed the rules (not a tax accountant so I'm not sure). The thing that caught me off guard was that since it's not a paycheck type of situation, there isn't tax withholding. I was used to thinking that whatever I got could be spent - so it got spent on various and sundry. There's a good chance that as a student you won't even have enough income for a tax liability this year, but I wanted to mention it just in case I could save you an unpleasant surprise.
He's a smart kid taking a walk like that...I get it. You each give a little, you each try and understand the others point of view. As long as you're both willing to bend some for one another, I think that's great.
Glad u have some leftover.
Man. I'm always blown away by how the two of you seem to work together and learn from eachother. I'm in my thirties and not that smart!
It's so true. When you have nothing, getting that one thing for yourself means so much.
So let her take him up on the daily OPI after. Or let me. :P
Made me teary eyed too. :P
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