It's PayDay!

February 29, 2024

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Growing up, my brother Tony and I were taught to work for what we want. We weren’t just handed things.

We shared a car when we had just gotten our licenses. Tony got his first because he’s a year older. My parents bought us a $1,500 Chevrolet Cavalier. It was white with a blue interior, like a Smurf exploded inside of it.

Our parents paid for the gas, insurance and maintenance for we didn’t have jobs at the moment. We would do odd jobs when we were younger. I’d mow grass, Tony would work at the local golf course, etc.

When we got this car we were only allowed to drive it here and there and only on Fridays to school. If we wanted to drive it to school more often, we had to get jobs.

Going back further before we had a car - we would ride our bikes, skateboards or even walk to our favorite gas station that was 2 miles away from our house. We’d get our friends together after school to “Go to BP” which was the gas station there at the time.

It was an adventure. We’d talk about school, sports, games, etc. It was our time to disconnect from the childhood responsibilities like homework and tests.

We didn’t have jobs, but we had a $5 weekly allowance. We didn’t just get the $5, though. We had to do our chores. We had to earn it.

This is where the title comes in…

Our dad is really good at dad jokes. So one week when we went to collect our $5 we each had a PayDay bar sitting on top of them with a note next to it saying:

“Happy PayDay! Love, Dad”.

This would ultimately become a source of significance for me.

In 2015 at my first corporate job I started this tradition of going to the gas station every pay day I have, which is bi-weekly for me, and I’d buy just one PayDay bar.

I use this as my way of telling myself I deserve the money I just earned because I did what I was tasked to do.

When I was unemployed collecting insurance money during the pandemic, I didn’t get any PayDay bars because I didn’t feel like I earned it.

When I took on a part time job and got paid weekly, that’s when I started it back up. 3 months of not working and not having this tradition made me cry after the first paycheck because I felt a sense of relief that it was all over and I finally earned it again.

Now, I still do it weekly, because my wife gets paid alternate of me lol. So it’s a tradition I’ve started sharing with her and I get us each a PayDay bar every week because we earned it, together.

Now instead of riding my bike, walking, or skateboarding with my friends and brother, I’m driving my own car I paid for on my own.

I still think about our adventures to BP.

Have a great weekend.

Joe

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