Money Changes Everything

When I registered for the 3-Day I thought it would change my life. It did, but not in the way I expected. I expected it to change the way I saw myself, by boosting my confidence and pride. I expected it to change the way I looked at my physical capabilities and my mental stamina. I also expected to create extraordinary bonds with other walkers. And, I am proud, but not as much as I thought I would be...I guess I'm just not as impressed with the walking as I thought I would be. Maybe it's because we didn't do the whole 60 (not that I think we should have, we both would have died), or maybe because I didn't feel so terrible afterwards, I'm not sure, but I'm just not so impressed with myself. And the only walker I bonded with was Tiffany!! Which is of course awesome, but I think most of our bonding occurred in training anyway, not during the actual event.

So what did I get out of the 3-Day? Well, I learned how fantastic and selfless the people around me truly are. Of course, Tiffany gets the prize for walking with me, that was just the ultimate sacrifice and commitment...and she knows how much I appreciate that. But I was really impressed with all the people who donated, and how much they gave. Many of my friends gave more than they could afford to give, and everyone who gave felt bad that they couldn't give more! It was really astonishing. Tiffany was pretty amazed to. I mean, we each raised over $2100, mostly from people who never donated to the 3-Day before. So where did this money go last year? Last year, before the Tsunami and Hurrican Rita, when gas was only $2.25/gallon, there must have been even more money available! I say this money should be spent on buying presents for me. My mom says it was probably spent on crap. But I defend to purchasing of crap...sometimes you need that stuff to make you feel better and it's cheaper than proz@c (Tiffany does that @ thing with brand names and I don't know why but she is pretty smart so I figure there is a good reason for, and thus, like a lemming off a cliff, I follow along).

Anyway, as I was saying, money is important to me, it always had been. I know money can't buy you happiness or love, but it can buy you freedom, which is just as important. I don't mean freedom from prison for white collar criminals, I mean dail freedoms. The freedom to take a day off of work, to go out to dinner, to buy what you want at the mall, or visit your friends whenever you like, or even the freedom to get sick because you can afford time off work and a doctor. Those are very important things, and they all take money. So, truthfully, I hardly ever give money away. I'll spend it on charitable events, like auctions or girl scout cookies, but I never just donate. So I am really impressed by those who do, especially other poor ass students like me who donated $25, $50, or even $100! Do you know how much I could buy with $100? I could go out to lunch, a movie, and still buy substantial amounts of crap with that money! And it's not like we need the tax deductions, we're living off of loans for goodness sake! I haven't paid income tax in seven years!! (I mean in the aggregate, after refunds, etc. This is not an admission to tax fraud!)

So I guess, I am just really impressed with the people in my life. They are really amazing. They took money out of their pockets not only to fight breast cancer, but to support me, and that is really awesome. And that changed my life. That being said, I will NOT be doing the 3-Day next year, so I expect some really kick-ass Christmas presents. I will be registered at W@lmart, T@rget, Bed B@th & Beyond, and your local Lexu$ dealership.