Pay to the order of ......

Last night, my husband and I stopped at the mailbox to retrieve the day's mail. As he was going through it all, he handed an envelope to me, addressed to me with my father's name above it. Department of the Treasury, it read. Suddenly, the whirlwind of the holidays came to a still, quiet stop. The somber reminder that my parents are now gone, physically. I swallowed hard as I looked at the envelope. It appeared to be real, many times, mail is a trick or fake. I opened the letter and it was a check from the social security office. It informed me, this was money owed to my father who is deceased, I am one of the beneficiarys. The air in the car became warm, heavy, I traveled back to my parents humble home and could see my father saving every last, little bit of change in his pocket. I could see his unorganized manner of handling his mail each day as he sorted through the junk to find the important stuff. His social security check arrived the same time each month. I am sure 99% of it went into the bank and he spent very little on himself. As I tucked the check away in my wallet, I could hear my mother scream excitedly, "James, she has gotten our money just in time for Christmas!." I could hear my father lamenting, "I sure hope she doesn't spend it on something they don't need!" I blinked back the tears and continued the drive to our daughter's performance, I knew the real fortune was the gift of life my parents gave me when money was tight, when most women stopped having children, when most families decided three was enough, when brothers and sisters wanted nothing to do with another baby in the family.....I was welcomed with a blank check....the amount never to be decided.....endless....unconditional...forever...part of a family that paid me much more than I could ever repay.