Keith Taylor: Money doesn't grow on trees

Money doesn’t grow on trees.

I heard that very statement from my parents over and over again while growing up. Honestly it was their way of saying that money doesn’t fall from the sky and doesn’t just float around freely and easily.

My sister and I were raised in a middle-class home where both parents had to work in order for us to be able to afford the things that my parents weren’t able to acquire during their upbringing.

I can’t remember not getting what I wanted for a special occasion, whether it was for Christmas or birthday. We didn’t ask for much, because my sister and I were always thankful for what we did have at the time.

We didn’t have internet and spent most of our summers playing sports outside and spending time at our grandparents’ house in Richmond. We survived many hot summers sleeping in front of a fan before we got a window air conditioner.

We thought we had moved up a step or two in society with that air conditioner. Truly it was a blessing in those hot summers in the country, where the shade tree wasn’t enough to keep you cool.

Everything Mom and Dad had, they worked for it. I can remember both my parents taking a week of their vacation time to work in tobacco to supplement their Christmas shopping income. I even helped strip tobacco and received a child’s portion of money back then for helping out.

When I entered the workforce at the age of 16, the thought of getting my own check was very satisfying, and $3.35 per hour went a long way back in the mid-1980s. I didn’t yearn for more, but I was a good steward with the wages I received for my day of work.

It was money and a checks that I earned and were not given to me for free.

Along those same lines, my late grandfather always told me not to count my chickens before they hatch, meaning don’t get too far ahead of yourself in any given life circumstance. Let it come to you in due season.

Now that I am older, I still fall back on those sayings and now know what my parents meant by money not growing on trees. As much as we would like for it too, it doesn’t work that way. You have to earn your keep.

That’s my two cents worth!