Cha- CHING!

I was looking for something in Chad's closet this afternoon. (Don't worry, Chad...I wasn't snooping for secrets - nor did I find any.) I'm short. I had to drag a chair over to look on the shelf. When I got up there...WHOA!

Some of you know Chad fairly well. Most of you see a quiet man, completely involved in his family. He is the ultimate super dad and one of those rare men that is equally yoked with his wife (I hope he actually feels that way...I can be a little dominating at times).

Anyway, most of you don't know the side of Chad that is unconcerned with organization. His desks at work have been fodder for light-hearted jokes. It doesn't bother him to set the table over a pile of newspapers or kids' schoolwork. Etc. Mostly, this is a good thing for me. The pressure to keep everything perfect really only comes from me (though that doesn't make it any easier to bear).

Now imagine Chad's pockets. Well, first imagine a little boy's pockets. Thankfully, Chad doesn't put anything living in his, but the surprises still abound. When he changes his pants, he transfers the pocket contents. He is not picky...he hardly even looks at what it is. Occasionally, he empties the pocket and dumps it all on the shelf in his closet (since he's standing there to change clothes).

Today, I found the "stash."

There was a huge pile of coins. The shelf space is narrow, but long and the string of pocket contents was about 18" long. As I said...lots of coins. Also included were pens and pencils, tithing receipts, business cards (some his, some not), collar stays, screws, nails, washers, bolts, nuts, hair ribbons and barrettes, a plastic marble, a pair of pliers (yes, those came from his pockets...don't ask me how he stands that), popsicle sticks, random keys, important keys, pay stubs, store receipts and likely some other stuff I can't remember. And then there were the coins. I counted them as I put them into our homemade bank ("Fun Money"). There was $16.43 up there in COLD, HARD cash! I felt like I was making money as I stood there!

Of course, I didn't find what I was looking for, so I started looking in the various shoe boxes up there. Apparently, when we moved two years ago, Chad cleaned out THAT closet shelf by dumping the assortment of pocket contents into a box and placing it on the shelf here. In there I found the tiny screw driver I use for tightening glasses (no wonder I couldn't find it before), more nails and screws, wing nuts, a vial of consecrated oil, electrical tape, wire caps, more tithing slips, paper clips, rubber bands so old that they were in pieces and sticking to everything, one of his old cub scout derby cars, a parking token for one of the church buildings in SLC (probably isn't worth anything anymore), TWO Subway rewards cards (how long do those things stay valid?), replacement bulbs for Christmas light strands, some other stuff I can't remember, AND....more coins!

I counted those coins. Did you think $16 was a lot? What do you think of $23.31? I think I found Chad's emergency savings fund! I made almost $40 dollars this afternoon! Maybe we can take that trip to Disneyland next year. ;) I also found two more states quarters that we were missing for our collection. We're only short one state now. Anyone have Arizona?

Incidentally, it was the 4th box I looked in that I found what I was searching for.