One of the teeter-totters of life

 Taken last summer, but newly re-noticed

This is one of the nights when I'm closed away working at my laptop and Dave is out in the living room working on ways to stay within our budget.  We used to have a pretty easy way:  we got paid, we spent what we got, we got paid again.  That was my way, and I did run into trouble from time to time.  Dave also had a way, which because I failed continuously to manage money, we adopted, and which worked most of the time.  His way involved getting paid, saving money, allocating wisely, being frugal with a burst of generousity when it seemed needed, and not going into debt.  Radical, I admit, but easy on the bodyparts that seize up when the dread word "money" comes into the conversation.

Dave is now talking to someone at Rogers, telling this service rep all about our budget, what we used to have, what he'd like to have, what he'd like to pay, all with good humour and respect.  He enjoys it the same way I do when I talk to bartenders---except he gets results and I just get smiles and once in a while a latte suprème.

I would never haggle with a service rep, maybe because I used to be a Bell service rep, and remember sometimes how it pained me personally not to be able to help someone who was looking to get a break.  Also because when it comes to money, I am both frozen and wussy.

It's kind of nice how we balance each other off that way.