Conversations with Matt

Matt and I are pretty similar in a lot of ways but like most married people, we have our differences. Opportunities for growth, if you will. One of these things is our view of money. Matt is a financial advisor so I suppose it comes with the job.  Matt wants to save for retirement, I want to buy flip-flops. Matt wants to contribute to a 401k, I don't even know what that is.

Here is a sampling of such conversations:

M:  You get holiday pay for working Thanksgiving, right?
J:  Yes, and a free meal.
M:  Who cares about the meal?
J:  I do.
M:  What's the holiday pay rate?
J: I think I'll get turkey. Possibly ham. Definitely mashed potatoes.

He gets very passionate when he speaks about finances. He has to stand up and possibly pace a bit while telling me about pensions and retirement and mutual bonds (or is it mutual stocks? I can never remember). Eyes ablaze, hands gesticulating. It's quite a show. Recently Matt was going on about something but all I could concentrate on was his adorable little dimple in his right cheek. After he was finished I said "You're so cute when you talk about finances. It makes me want to rip that sweater vest right off."  He stared at me for a moment and then said in a disgusted tone "Oh my gosh " and walked out of the room.

Matt can probably tell you, down to the cents, how much we have in our checking account on any given day. It takes me a minute just to remember which bank we use.

We also differ on our views of books. I love them. I love the smell of them - wood and ink. New pages that are crisp and full of promise. Old pages worn with love and soaked with the scent of time. If I loan a book out, even one I don't even like, I miss it. Like I've given away a part of me. Matt basically considers books, with few exceptions, to be a waste of space. We have about 6 bookcases and I can count on one hand the number of books that belong to him. In fact when we were moving to our current house, Matt started grousing that most of the boxes were filled with books. He just started labeling them 'Crap.'

While watching the election, at one point Matt exclaimed "Look at that! Only 193 votes separate the candidates in Florida!" He looked over to get my reaction and said, again with disgust, "Are you reading a book about dragons right now?"

You betcha.