My Journey … Life lessons learned from experience

On cheapness & thinking one can unnecessarily outsmart reality a lesson.

Lets Go…

A couple of years ago, not long after I had gotten married, Late September of that year we got married, my wife Jane and I moved to the neighboring state of New York, from Connecticut.

I had gotten a job at the end of the previous year in New York, we were expecting our first child at the time, and she was due in less than a month.

During the period I had been in this job most of the time, I had lived in West New York in New Jersey and New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York. Jane had lived in Bristol, Connecticut. Now it was time to move to our place in Yonkers, New York.

We had a day set for the move, and it was the first Saturday in the month of September that year. We had tried to furnish our new place with a few new things. I also had some of my items and furniture in storage, since I had already moved. Now we hand gone to pick off the rest of the stuff from Bristol, Connecticut, where Jane was living.

So after we had packed all night and gotten some help from some relatives in the morning, we had packed up and then gotten ready to leave.

We hit the road, but we first made a stop at a Walgreen for supplies for our two-hour-plus trip.

It had been bugging us that one thing we did not have and needed was an indoor entertainment sound system. We had been looking for a good deal, entirely within budget.

Either way, we had decided to stop at a local Walgreen store before we hit the highway.

That was where it happened.

I don’t how or why, but we got stopped by a man, bald, milky-white skin, about 5 ft 6 inches, wearing a light hoody and a little chubby. He drove a mini-truck and just so happened to be street marketing a stereo system out of his truck.

Maybe it was the energy that we had been giving out for a week, perhaps it was the universe, but there happen to be a guy in the parking lot with us, and he happened to have a discounted stereo system in his truck for like $150.

Now I have to add; here was an environment where about a quarter of the town was dealing with a rising drug epidemic problem.

So in my mind, I was thinking this guy might be part of feeding a habit.

My wife looked my way unsure. I thought for a second and decided to roll the dice.

Maybe it was from the excitement from the impending addition to the family, the planning, moving, baby showers, or perhaps it was just my quota of that mythical five-percent per day of a stupid decision. Either way, I counted out my pocket the one hundred and fifty dollars, handed it over to this very sketchy individual, and took possession of a packaged box.

We set on our way; the rest of the journey was smooth. Most of our moving and setting up in the next three days was also smooth.

The next weekend, everything set, it was time to unveil the new sound system with a grand Saturday evening movie.

Grabbed the box, pulled out the parts, and immediately for whatever reason, it felt funny. It was dense, like thirty-pound weights of loosely fitted.

By this time, I set up and connected the system, i was now nervously waiting for the moment of truth — turning on the network.

I turn it on, and it sounded like a malfunctioning 60s radio whose annoying frequency kept increasing the longer it tried to play.

It turned out to be just that, a 60s radio set, installed to play just enough to pass a rush test, but crumble once ruggedly moved. The radio was installed deep inside a futuristic-looking case that, weighted with loose heavy metals inside.

I reflexively held my hands on over my head then laughed out loud at the outcome of my decision, all in almost one motion.

I left the contraptions in the living room for months until I eventually went to a Best Buy to duly purchase a home entertainment system, protection plan, and all.

It’s since become an incident of change for me. In life, the big picture matters the most, but pay attention to all the little details; those details will get you to the Promised Land. Most notably, don’t be penny wish pound foolish, it’s not sustainable, and does not lead to real progress.