$$$Money$$$

"Money is the root of all evil, and yet it is such a useful root that we cannot get on without it any more than we can without potatoes."
--Louisa May Alcott--

When I was in first grade, my older brother, Shane, was starting to look at colleges. I remember how he and my mother would slave over brochures and try to figure out what he could do to pay for his education.

At age 6, I tended to worry a bit more than was healthy for a 40-pound-girl and started to cry, claiming that I was never going to be able to afford college.

In junior high, I started to raise animals in the FFA. It was so exciting to have shopping money. But instead of saving the money for college or even towards a car, I spent it buying Christian CDs and Jesus fan-fiction at Touch of Heaven, the local Christian book supplier.

Sure enough, when I went to college, my savings were down to nothing and I was forced to student-loan myself through college.

During my 26 years on earth, I have struggled with money. I have spent too much of it, had too little of it, and loathed the very thought of it. It would be nicer if we could go back to the old days when people traded their goods for other goods. But I wouldn't do well in a prairie skirt and there is no way I'd be a good woman in those days.

Instead, I will have to fight against the money that disgusts me. I'll keep to my budget and try not to become as careless with my money as politicians can be with their power.

Luckily, my future will be in writing and not in managing one's purse or working at the bank.