I've Been Outsmarted by my Grandmother

Every year since I stopped having birthday parties¹, I got a card in the mail from my maternal grandmother. I suspect I'm not alone in this regard. In the card was a check, money I could spend anyway I want! Woohoo! It was never a large amount; she grew up during the Great Depression, had enough to get by but never a lot, retired some time ago, and has been a widower for almost two decades now².

Accordingly, the amount of those checks steadily decreased through the years. They started to be accompanied with notes of apology for not being for very much. She just couldn't afford to give more³. Some time ago, I simply stopped cashing the checks. I felt like the she needed the money more than I would like to have it.

I didn't tell anybody about this until this year, mentioning it to my father. He told me I should be cashing them⁴; I had no desire to. It was a system that I thought was working out well: She would write them, I would ignore them, she kept the money. After all, it's the thought that counts, right?

Well, I recently opened birthday card 2009. Inside was a $20 bill. Apparently she had noticed I wasn't cashing the checks⁵. I can't exactly send it back to her, can I?

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1 I honestly cannot remember when I ended this practice. After I turned 14? If you remember, help me out.

2 A sobering realization, typing that.

3 She has seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She probably doesn't send anything to three of them anymore, but that's still a lot to spread around.

4 Anyone else thinking of the "Seinfeld" episode? I feel like saying, "She's on a very fixed income!"

5 Or she just didn't feel like writing one. I find this less likely.