Mom and Tag - Olivia Newport

Photo by Larry Mohr

Don’t you hate it when you go to the dentist and come out in debt for a crown? Or you buy new tires and you cannot believe what they cost? Or your husband’s new glasses? Or what that simple landscaping project would come to? Or the home repair that you really have to do even though it’s not in the budget?

One day while I was having this sort of conversation with my mom and no doubt saying that I had to figure out a way to pay for something or other, she said,

“Tap dance, and wear your skirts shorter.”

I gasped. Then laughed. One of the things I’ve always loved about my mom is her resourcefulness. These particular suggestions were not helpful on a literal level, but they served to remind me that often the answer is there if we’re willing to be creative about solving the problem.