Growing Up Spoiled

Happy Monday, Llama Herd! Today I might be showing my age a little bit. But that's OK because for now I'm not ashamed of my age. A few weeks ago Katherine at That's For Me to Know wrote about not having smart phones and social media growing up. She was glad to not have them, and honestly I am, too.

So it is Monday after all, and on Monday's we share our Grateful Hearts; linking up with Emily at Ember Grey.

After reading Katherine's post it really got me thinking about the way I was raised. I'm grateful for the way my parents brought me up. My parents got divorced when I was 7; they couldn't agree on much and their marriage didn't work out, but they did agree on how to raise my sister and I. We weren't aren't spoiled. Not in the way that most people think of when they hear spoiled. We didn't get a car when we were sixteen, we didn't get a cell phone when we got into high school, and we didn't spend tons of money at the malls. We are spoiled in love.

I didn't get my first cell phone until I graduated high school. My parents (both) said I could have my own cell phone when I could pay for it myself. And guess what? That first bill I got that was over $400 because I had no idea what "going over minutes" was... yeah, I had to pay that myself. I never went over my minutes again.

I didn't get my first car until after high school as well. Just like the cell phone, I could have my own car when I could pay for it and the insurance. My first car was a 92 Saturn SL2. "Lady". She was a P.O.S. but she was mine. She lasted a few years after graduation, too. My dad taught me how to change my oil, my mom taught me how to change a flat.

I'm grateful for all of this. I'm grateful for having parents that spoiled me with love instead of material things. I'm so grateful for the way they brought me up, and I absolutely plan to teach my kids the same. Sure, when I was an angry teenager I was mad at my parents for not buying me a car. But now that I'm almost 27 I know WHY they didn't buy me the car. Phones, and cars, and insurances, and just STUFF... y'all that's expensive.

So, to my mom and dad: thank you for not spoiling me. Thank you for teaching me how to balance my checkbook. Thank you for eveything.