change appreciation day

It's really strange how sometimes a seemingly meaningless event can come back and cause an unexpected, yet oddly fitting effect on your life. Earlier yesterday, I was at a 7-11 picking up a few things, and a disheveled, unkempt skateboarder came up to me in my car and asked for 50 cents. My mind instantly flashed to the coins that had been tinkling around in my cup holder for weeks. They were most likely never going to see any use; I don't like carrying change, and I eventually end up sweeping all loose change into the Change Bucket at home. What goes into the Change Bucket usually never comes out.

Thinking that the skateboarder would probably get infinitely better use out of my change than I would, I looked inside my cup holder. 52 cents - two quarters and two pennies. Perfect. I gave him the quarters and felt happy about fulfilling my philanthropic quotient for the day.

Hours later, I found myself on a college campus full of parking lots that my permit-less car couldn't park in. With no other options, I squeezed my car into a metered spot and looked inside my cup holder. I knew full well how much change was left in there (ie. not enough to prevent me from getting a ticket), yet I somehow had to look anyway, hoping that another pair of quarters would magically materialize and that I somehow hallucinated the events from earlier in the day. No, there were only 2 cents.

The thought that I had enough in my car to pay for a parking meter for the last couple of weeks, only to be robbed of it through some freak generous impulse earlier that very day, totally drove me crazy. I think I should start keeping some more change in my car.