We were at a coffee shop drive thru and as I searched for a few loonies in the loose change…overflowing the cup holders and fake ashtray…I gave up and paid with a five dollar bill.
“Use the change,” Red said.
“I’m not passing a handful of pennies and nickels in through the window,” I replied.
“You’re a change snob,” she announced.
“What the heck’s a change snob?” I asked.
“Someone who thinks they’re too good for pennies,” was her response…sticking her nose up in the air and turning away from me.
So I threw them at her.
Quite frankly…there was no where to put my tea and this was the best opportunity I’d had in months to rid myself of the filthy, annoying coins.
“What are you doing,” she yelled as one handful after the next was tossed upon her lap…bouncing to the floor while she tried frantically to gather them up.
“They’re yours,” I said, “don’t say I didn’t give you anything!”
“You’ll see,” Red yelled, stuffing the coins in her pockets…both of us laughing. “One of these days I’ll buy something really good with this…and you’ll feel pretty dumb!”
I ignored her.
Well…until yesterday.
“How was your weekend,” she asked as I arrived at the food court at the hockey rink.
“Meh” I replied, taking the seat next to her…briefly telling her of my disappointing weekend.
“WELL THEN” she proclaimed, ignoring what I’d said while jumping from her seat…the legs of the chairs scraping on the tiled floor causing various folks to look our way!
“This is a perfect time to buy myself an ice cream!” she continued…”WITH THIS” she yelled as she reached into her pockets and removed handfuls of coin that had been placed there more than six weeks before!
That’s right…six weeks before!!!
With a grin on her face and two fists full of coin, Red marched to the ice cream shop, slapped the coins on the counter and began counting out pennies, nickels and dimes… explaining to the young girl working that “change is money too!”
Then came back to the table with an ice cream for herself.
And a sundae for me.
And gave me a wee little hug for my “not so great” weekend.
Making everything better.
“You’ll be ok,” she said with a smile on her face. Then followed it up with a…”change is good!”
Perfect!!!