Decades ago and shortly after my marriage one of my sister in laws offered me some advice about those from where she’s from in attempt to explain Colombian logic …
” We think differently ” she offered and I’ve never doubted it since .
My married life has run some parallels to the married life of my parents , kind of same kind of different in some respects . When my Mother came to the United States in the early 1960s it was with one proviso and that being that she would return to England every year to visit her parents and my Father was in full agreement . While growing up their summer separations seemed quite normal to me and so I’ve always felt rather guiltless at my encouragement that my own foreign born bride visit her family annually as well … and at length . There are a couple of items in the equation where those parallels take a sharp 90 degree turn however .
One sharp right is the financial picture of the past 33 years in that Dad never missed a single week without a paycheck in his entire life and so Mom’s annual trek was never a serious financial burden . In contrast I’ve experienced some mighty skinny financial times over the years and whenever those woefully sorry periods appeared I may have balked once or twice at the price of her annual ticket only to be confronted with that Colombian logic . Immediately at any signs of my wavering the family South would offer their thoughts on the topic ….
” The ticket is only $350 … you don’t have $350 ? ” and to this day they’ve never grasped the rest . Like the wife’s lack of income for the 6-8 weeks she’s gone or the money to spend while there . Toss in the sundries like the gifts to bring and that paltry $350 has morphed into excess of $ 3,500 .
Another parallel with a bend in it is that over the last few years I’ve come to accompany the wife on these visits and in fact we’re gearing up for a trip back to to the wife’s homeland soon. This means one thing is a certainty , a marathon of shopping needs to take place prior to departure . Fresh additions to the wardrobe and presents need acquiring thus requiring endless hours at malls and Walmart with the only respite from that drudgery being the time perusing everyone’s favorite … Amazon Prime online .
” Maybe we should think about the need for all of this Hon ” is what I offered as I looked over her shoulder at the Amazon website on the screen which brought a swift taste of Colombian logic …
” They are only $18 – $24 gifts … don’t be a tacaño ” {cheapskate} and for sure $18 – $24 is a very affordable gift ….. until the number in The Cart tops 32
