Lockhart: The apple didn’t fall very far from the tree
My daughter only gets two weeks off from college every four months. She is in chiropractor school in Dallas. She left Dallas at five am on a Saturday morning to get home and start her two week break.
She figured out if she left at five am she could get home and still make it to a barrel race close on time. It’s funny, she’s so much like me it’s spooky. When I was her age all I thought about was the next rodeo and hunting season. She’s just like me in so many ways.
She called the horseshoer and he couldn’t get to her horse quick enough. I told her to buy me a new horse shoeing rasp and a bottle of Advil. My knees are getting so bad I just can’t hardly shoe horses anymore. One evening a couple of days later she went to town with her friends. They all went out to eat and they went to the big shopping mall.
I worked job number one all day and was at job number two the evening she went to town shopping. She called and said she bought me a prize. She wanted to know when would I be home.
I kind of left work early that night and got home about eleven pm. She brought me a bargain found used horseshoe rasp. She gave five dollars for it. It had laid somewhere and got wet. The fine side of the rasp was completely rusted and ruined. She said the other side was still sharp though. She asked when I could shoe her horse.
My wife and son laughed and laughed. They said it served me right for all the times I had tightwaded them on clothes, cars and food. My entire family was having a field day with my daughter becoming a natural born tightwad.
She was proud of how she saved ten bucks on a wore out horse shoeing rasp, especially since it was me on the short end of the stick. My wife laughed and said, “yea, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree on being a cheap skate.”
There wasn’t much I could say. I’ve always tried to teach her to manage her money. For once I was both proud of her and a little aggravated. Those dull rasps are a pain in the rear. The best comparison I can think of would be like using a butter knife to filet a big catfish. You can do it, but it sucks.
The funny thing is she’s still a kid even though she’s almost twenty two years old. She still does stuff like leave money in her jean pockets. I found a twenty dollar bill in the washer the other day. She don’t know it, but she’s going to buy me a new rasp. I’ve got years and years more experience in the tightwad department than her. What is it they say? When youth departs may wisdom be enough.