Where To Slide That Dollar Bill
A wedding gift from my cousin and her Dad.
And now, one of my favorite stories of 2011. No, it isn’t about strippers.
My family is full of stories. Full of them. Maybe I’ll tell them all someday. All of it. All the way.
Today, I’m going to tell just one yarn about one of my cousins. My cousin is the daughter of my Mom’s brother, my uncle.
My cousin came into his life via being birthed by his second or third or fourth wife. That I just wrote that many numbers hopefully demonstrates, without my delving into it, that my uncle was a character; that he had multiple wives (not simultaneously); and that her childhood did not always include the presence of her father, who she rightfully adored. My uncle was a charmer.
When my cousin was separated from her father, she missed him, and they were apart more than they were together. I’m not even sure my uncle always knew where she was. Anyone who’s been through divorce can appreciate how things can sometimes degrade to undesirable, even ugly, places.
After a particularly drawn out stretch of fractured longing, my cousin – then a little girl – decided to do something about her aching heart. She found a dollar bill, and she wrote a message on it, a note to her daddy asking him to find her. I think she even had the wisdom and maturity to include where she was. And, she signed it using her full name.
With a childish leap of faith, she spent that dollar bill. Maybe she bought candy, or a yo-yo. A meaningless thing that passed through her life, consumed in seconds and summarily forgotten. I don’t know if she spent that dollar and then waited for her daddy to find her. I like to imagine she did.
Sometime later, in another state, her daddy went to buy a pack of cigarettes or a candy bar. A fleeting, pointless thing. Instead, he counted his change and found a dollar bill. His daughter’s dollar bill, with her pleading message that carried the weight of her heartbreak within it.
Spurred on by the blazing lightning bolt from out of the blue, he found his precious daughter and forged a bond that I admired and sometimes envied. I cherish the one thing – a vase – that I know they picked out together for me, because it is the perfect representation of who they were united.
Is too much good luck just enough?
Gulp.
My cousin is an honorary Ginger.
Cool story, the serendipity of life continues to amaze.
Now all I have to do is find that bar of gold I put in a bottle and launched in the ocean.
Not if I find it first…….
AARRRGGGGHHHH Matey, I need the gold for my teeth.
Not if I find it first.
Oh wow, heart warming stuff
if ever there was a case for something that was meant to be!
I know. It gives me chills every time I think about it.
That is unbelievable! Is this story embellished??
The Queen would never reveal an untruth, howevvvvah….
When I use a story,” Queen A said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Queen A, “which is to be master – - that’s all.”
I will respond to the remaining comments after my walk but post a link to the original story here.
http://andrawatkins.com/2011/01/05/where-to-slide-your-dollar-bill/
My cousin Lori Northcutt, who wrote on the dollar bill, replied on that post about this story. There were several doubters there, too, but she set them straight.
That’s the sort of story from a Hollywood film that everyone finds too far fetched! Is it really true? Pretty cool if it is
It is really true, Knotrune. I’ve always thought it had that Hollywood quality myself, but life does occasionally imitate art – if you call Hollywood art.
Beautifully told. Teared up today…although, to be honest and fair, my son is leaving this morning so I look at my tea and cry.
Love this story. Would be great if you would tell the stories so they do not get lost in time.
Some stories are worth the effort, aren’t they? I am glad you had such a great visit with your kids. It was fun following your antics.
What a wonderfiu, heartwarmimg story, Andra, thank you. I shall pass that on…
Thanks for sharing it, Kate. It gives hope for the coming year.
sorry, wonderful!! (wonderflu. Makes the mind boggle)
wonderful, how it found him……. and that they bothered to make the bond stronger than ever
Until he died, they were really close. Long backstory.
Oooh, goosebumps.
Glad you liked it.
Tale tale or true? It makes no difference. Would that every distant Daddy could read this and take something positive from it.
As an aside, thanks for all the links to patconroy.com….got to check and see if there’s anything remaining (besides the cookbook – that isn’t my forte) I may not have read.
Dear Lord, What Karen said…Amen.
Thanks, Lori…. Glad you got what I meant, as that was to have read *Tall* tale . . .
Did you find anything new?
No….
I’ve never read “The Boo” or “My Losing Season” but I knew of them.
When “South of Broad” came out, I was the 2nd person to get it from our local library. If there were something new emanating from him, I’d be in line! His work has always resonated with me – probably because I first read, and identified with, “The Great Santini.”
There’s something about you writers from Charleston!
AWESOME!!!!
Thanks, Nancy. Redemptive stories do feel good.
That made my heart pound. When she sent off the dollar, I thought “no way”. And when he got it, I thought “NO WAY” again. It’s shit like this that keeps me agnostic instead of sending me off down the path of atheism. I cannot explain these experiences, but I have had enough of them that I absolutely believe. Wow.
This is one of my favorite stories, Jessie. It’s hard not to believe when things like this happen, things that are impossible to explain.
I was hoping for strippers…
I don’t have any stripper stories, Carnell, because I’ve never seen a strip act. By all means, tell your stripper story if it will make you happy. From the results yesterday from using the word ‘naked’ in the post title, your XXX-ing up my blog will only help me in search engine hits.
“XXX-ing up my blog”?? We could do that. Stories of strippers, XXX, Penthouse Pets in Atlanta hotel room, videographers, they could all be at your disposal.
Seems to be what people seek on the internet. Remember what the internet is for……..
With that video, you are really starting to sound like Kenneth Andrews!
Heather Solos originally posted it here. Give her credit.
You failed to mention the table dance at Panera Bread Michael Carnell.
Gee. I am SO GLAD he forgot it.
What, you want video?
NO. NO. NO. And NO.
Wow. That is the universe at work in the best possible way…
I know. It always gives me chills.
Oh!