Money

Lately I've been thinking of how grateful I am that things are (overall) going well in my life. At least financially. I've got the best job ever! For the first time, I have a job with real potential. I'm earning my own money and learning to work longer hours and be more responsible and dependable. I don't (for the most part) skip work without calling or skip work just because I'm not emotionally 100%. I'm becoming more professional. At 26 years old, I'm finally growing up.

I'm at a financial transition right now. I'm actually in a pretty good place, earning my own money but still keeping hold of the services I receive. Not in a "taking advantage of the system" way, but in a "preparing for financial independence" way. I can't just jump in with both feet and hope that everything works out. Yikes! How scary would that be?

People talk about the state of the economy a lot. I'm not really feeling the effects of the slow economy. Quite the opposite, in my world my economy is flourishing! Because I'm still receiving Social Security, I will be getting a $250 stimulus check this month from the government. Someone asked me what I was going to do with my $250. I replied that I would probably save it. "That's exactly what they don't want you to do," she responded. I thought about that. It makes sense, to put that money back into the economy. So for the last few weeks I've been contemplating what to do with that money. It's not a HUGE amount, but it's enough to make a difference.

When I checked the mail I had another letter from one of my former foster care group homes. I'm constantly getting mail from them. It's annoying, more because they don't even spell my name right than anything else. But I always open the letters and see what's going on in my past world. When I opened this letter, it hit me. I have $250 coming to me and instead of spending it on myself, I need to donate it somewhere. Maybe not this group home, but somewhere.

I want to call one of my other group homes, Florence Crittenton. I want to tell them what's going on with my life now and how I'm finally growing up. In July it will be 10 years since I first lived there. (I lived there twice.) I've been waiting until July to call, so I can tell them, "Hey, this is what's going on with me 10 years later." It's still so strange to think that it's been that long.

I want to donate my $250 to Florence Crittenton, as they are the ones still around who helped me the most. But I'm a little torn. Florence Crittenton has become a very large program with lots of donors and sponsorships. I know my $250 would still be greatly appreciated. But the group home that sends me all the letters has much less funding. My money would be even more helpful to them. And I'm torn in yet another way, as I think about how annoying it is for my former group home to constantly hit me up for money, as if I'm suddenly rich since I left foster care. That makes me lean more toward Florence Crittenton. I've gone back there a few times, just as I did at the other group home, and Florence Crittenton never hit me up for donations. They're always just happy to see my small successes. So I have to figure out which group home I'm going to donate to. I, of course, also have the option to split the money between the two. I don't know...

In all this thinking, I visited Florence Crittenton's website. One of the things that really struck me was the page asking for people to share their stories. They especially want to hear from former residents. I'm totally going to share my story!