what happened to pony rides?

I spent my afternoon at a Luau party all decked out with tiki torches, a limbo stick, a slurpee machine, and a moon bounce. This was a Luau party for five-year olds. And it was fabulous. It was at one of the nicest homes I’ve ever been in the backyard of. The birthday girl had her own playhouse and by playhouse I mean a prefabricated white siding house which a grown up could stand up in with a porch and a swing, a working mini refrigerator and (get ready) air conditioning! Yeah, I totally know.

This was the perfect kind of party meant for both children and adults because the buffet table had both chicken fingers and sushi. I mean, come on you can’t get much more perfect than that. The bithday girl’s present this year was a mini golf cart to match her father’s that resided in the garage (I know because the garage door was open).

The telling of the details of this party is not meant for boasting that I was in attendance, but more of a slap in my face about my own materialistic views. I go about my daily struggle with money trying very hard, and usually not succeeding, in staying to a reasonable budget. And now, I’m about to pay off my car loan, which will help my life enormously. And so, I’m thinking things are going well and I can start saving and paying things off and maybe even donating when all of a sudden I go to a Luau party at what should just as well be a mansion and I feel like I’m the red headed stepchild in the corner. Now, the people were the nicest people in the world, friendly, bubbly and just chill, but my mouth was dropping at every turn. I left feeling like I had walked into a reality check that no matter how much I think I have it together financially, it doesn’t matter because even with all the fluff and stuff we were surrounded by, my favorite part was just sitting in the shade talking to my sister-in-law about the book she lent me to read. Money can come and go, but it’s the people who make up the conversations of your life that matter, and the pina colada slurpees.