this morning, a reader (thanks cindy- you’re awesome!) left me a comment about how she found an amazing wad of dropped cash ($80+) at a garage sale. lucky! and then i rebounded with a story about how my friend found a $50 at arby’s (random!). and then in my head, i started writing a book of short stories about people finding money under different circumstances (i tend to get carried away like this a lot). in short, i want to hear your stories. big or small pennies or hundreds… it’s reader show and tell day!
here’s a little story from me to get it started:
after a full year of change collecting, i am starting to notice some odd patterns. i’m not particularly superstitious, or even inclined to believe in fate, but sometimes i feel like the universe is rewarding or punishing me via the nickels and dimes i find on the street.
a moment of rare self awareness… a shiny quarter might appear in an unexpected place (on top of the yellow line dividing the right half of congress street from the left at the exact place where i’m crossing the street).
a cranky grumpy selfish day… a fistful of pennies covered in green bugs. or more likely, no pennies at all.
about 3 years ago, i was getting ready to get married to someone that i knew i shouldn’t be marrying. and i was FREAKING OUT. i decided that the remedy for this was to get a tattoo (as it turns out, not the remedy- but that’s a whole other story). i wanted to assert my independence. give myself a permanent reminder of my autonomy- my past existence as single allie, and the life that i was feeling very much not ready to give up. i didn’t have the money, but it felt like necessity at the time, so out came the credit card. except that tattoo parlors aren’t like restaurants. there isn’t a tip section that pops out at the bottom of the receipt where you can just fill in the amount. you’re supposed to tip in cash, and i didn’t have any. none. my plan was to overdraw my checking account and deal with the consequences later, but on the way to my appointment, there it was. a crumpled twenty just hanging out in the middle of a vacant lot that i happened to be cutting through.
i think at the time i thought the universe was telling me “getting a tattoo is a good idea!”, although maybe “if you’re afraid to lose your autonomy, maybe you’re not ready to let it go yet!” would have been a better translation. but again, that story needs a blog of its own.
NOW YOU!
broke 207 
is the picture of the key tattoo your arm? in my little world tattoos are an investment in art, and i went big. on the found money, these days the only dough i find is in the dryer. under $20-it’s mine (laundress fee), over, i ask in a low voice if anyone left money in their pockets, preferably while the dog is barking.
it is! i really thought that getting a wrist tattoo would be horribly painful, but i barely felt a thing. and even though my life has changed considerably since i got it, i still love it. it is one of the few things that i don’t regret putting on my credit card.
i wish the jerks in my condo association would leave money in the dryer! all i get are exploded pens and old dryer sheets. i did however find a $20 i a pair of jeans i bought at a consignment store. it was like getting paid $8 for buying new jeans. awesome!
Matt found $50 on the floor of the movie theatre he worked at when he was closing..
About the tattoo- 1)it’s a sweet tattoo 2)my friend, greg posted this earlier- “It’s hard to know if you’ve made the right decision sometimes… I guess Mr Hindsight can let me know in a few months time.”
i hope some day to be able to say that i found a $50 (or perhaps $100?). i bet matt found a lot of cool shit on the floor at the movies. i should consider getting a second job so i can get in on the action.
your friend greg is smart. i try to follow the morrissey rule. “do your best and don’t worry” 🙂
One spring day 6 years ago we were at Perkins with my grandmother. She walked out the door and found a penny laying on the door mat and said “Oh, Herman left me a penny.” Herman was her dad and he was notorious for having pennies all over the place. So, she went on to explain that since he died she found pennies EVERYWHERE (including on shelves on the wall while cleaning, etc.) Mom and I were kinda like “yeah, whatever…” but my grandmother died about 4 months later herself. To this day we find pennies EVERYWHERE. My entire family. The day of my wedding we were decorating and I found a penny on the dance floor. 10 other people had walked through there and then I walk through and there it is. We always joke when we find them that it would be nice if she would start leaving $20’s or $50’s instead but she apparently isn’t listening to that lol
Oh, and I agree that tattoos are an investment in art. They may be expensive but they last forever so it’s worth it. I only have 3 small ones at this point but I am far from done!
that is such a sweet story! i totally teared up like a big fat bitch. you need to write a book and make sure that gets in there!
as for tattoos, i too am definitely far from done. i will actually be getting a 207 tattoo this fall to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of this blog (assuming that it/i am still around), and my undying devotion to my home state. what do you have?
I have cherries on my right foot, KP (in a cute little girly font with a heart on each letter) on m right ankle for my niece… her name is Kylynn Paige, and I have 3 stars on my shoulder kinda like one at the back one on top and one in the front. They look damn cool when I have on a tank top. I have a picture of a flower that I want to get and I will definitely end up with a dragonfly at some point. I’d love one covering my back…. wings across my shoulders and tail down my spine but don’t know that I want to sit through that, just not sure.
The shop that did my cherries and my KP is called 717 Tattoo. 717 is the area code here and every year on July 17th they give free 717 tattoos. I’ve never gone because I’m not from here but maybe I will this year?
that’s so cute about your niece! see- more people need to get tattoos of people that they’ll never break up with. that’s the way to do it. i know how you feel about the back piece. i want one too, but i’m terrified. i think i need to build up to it. i’m getting the 207 tattoo this year (we need to start the area code tattoo revolution!), and then i’m going to get a nancy drew tattoo on my shoulder (as soon as i have the balls and the money) .
Ohhh the Nancy Drew one would be awesome with the magnifying glass and stuff. Very cool!
that’s the one! like i said, i just need the money and the guts. and the right tattoo artist.
i don’t know what link you need to post a pic here from photobucket, or i’d show you some of my work. strictly flowers.
on another note i am embarrassed to admit i grew up in topsham, me and just now figured out what the “207” in broke207 stood for. worse still, i own a house on a lake in bridgton, maine – yup – 207. oh gawd
i’ll forgive you! but only if you show me pictures of your tattoos. you could always just post the link. i don’t mind clicking. i’ve actually heard rumors for years about them installing a second area code in maine, but so far it’s all talk. even if/when it does happen- it will always be 207 to me.
fuck me, i’m computer retarded, so i don’t know if these links will work. some of the pics were taken right after the work was done.
you’re so beautiful! i’m especially jealous of the ones on the back of your neck. i wish i had the cojones to be that inked up. you’re my fucking hero.
The links definitely work, very nice!
Ohhh… i’d love to see your work Chris!
I keep wondering – what the hell were the little green bugs??? And, WHY would you keep pennies that were crawling with little green bugs? Bleh heh heh.
it was really gross. mostly because they were so small that i didn’t notice them until it was too late- the pennies were already in my hand! but for the sake of the experiment- no pennies left behind. unless they have poop or vomit on them. although gratefully, that situation has yet to arise. it’s all about the hand sanitizer.
What is it with the dearly departed and pennies? After my brother died, I started finding pennies all over the place, too. It’s tapered off a bit now, but it still seems like on special days– his b-day, stuff like that– that the pennies start cropping up again. And a few years back, I was walking to my car w/my husband after work and remarked that “it’s been forever since I’ve found a penny. What’s up with that?” Seriously about a minute or so later, there were about 50 pennies on the sidewalk. Pretty cool, especially since I had a witness.
It’d be nice if our deceased loved ones could step up a bit and leave some bills once in awhile, but the penny thing is still pretty sweet.
all these dearly departed stories are making me get all misty at work. hopefully my boss just thinks that quickbooks is choking me up. that’s so cool though! (obviously not losing someone close to you, but feeling like they’re still around).
It works the same way for us Lynn… we’ll mention it and BOOM there they are. I find them a lot when I am places with my mom (it was her mother who told us the story)
Isn’t that funny Jen? I’ve got to remember to start mentioning it more! 🙂