I’ve tried to parent differently from my mom. I haven’t always succeeded, because my formative years were spent under her wing and in her shadow. For part of my life, I probably was closer to her than her own shadow. I hung on every word she said as if each syllable came directly from God. Much of who I am today is her fault <\/s>because of who she is. I’m stubborn. I’m an innovator. I am always wondering how something can be done better, and why someone never thought of changing things before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best advice I got from her was always money advice. I remember her telling me to always put something away… and to have “vex money.” The running joke during the first years of my marriage was that I always had some money stashed away somewhere… in an old purse, in an account that I didn’t think about, in a jacket pocket in the back of the closet. We still laugh about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those of you who aren’t familiar with vex money – it is that couple of dollars that you have in your purse when you go out on a date, just in case something happens, you don’t like him, you get in an argument, or he won’t take you home as promised and you need to catch a cab or call someone. In America, back when pay-phones were a thing, women would be told to put a dime in their penny loafers instead of a penny so that they could make a phone call should a date go awry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I always had some vex money. Not in case I got mad at my husband – but for life. Life can be mean, and angry, and it can try to leave you behind. Vex money keeps you getting left out there with nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n