Dad was notoriously um...thrifty. He liked to save pennies. It was a running joke in the house. If you got a shirt then you better make it last until the fabric disintegrated into dust. One time he called me when I was in college and said, “I just want to tell you that someone burglarized the house when we were at work. We’re fine and there’s no damage.” I paused. Umm...ok. And then I started giggling. He wanted to know why I was laughing? “Those guys must be the saddest thieves in Miami. I mean...we don’t have ANYTHING!” He protested ‘no no that’s not true. What are you talking about’ Well...what did they steal?!?! Dad paused and we both laughed. “Did they steal your 30-year-old shirts, did they jack your record player from the 1960s? Did they steal the wine turned to vinegar?” As I continued to list the ridiculously old and out of date appliances he said ‘wait, they stole some old cameras?” I asked if any of the cameras worked? He continued laughing. As it turns out they did take something...we had a sheet of uncut one dollar bills from the US Treasury when we visited DC...total value of sheet? $16.
Our parents’ thriftiness allowed them to give large donations to charities when we were kids. Years later I found myself looking in my Brooklyn closet at $20 black overcoat I purchased in 1997 and a pair of UCLA flip flops that were 10 yrs old and I thought, “damn. He got me.” Anyway these are our Father’s Day cards from 1989. (still have the black overcoat from 1997.)
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