the inconvenience of money

Money is a very tricky subject for me. I'm not sure if I have written about this before but it plays on all of my weaknesses.

I grew up relatively poor, or so I thought as a child. Perhaps my mom was just frugal. My sister and I were privileged to more financial information than we should have been, probably. Once I found an old journal of mine when I was about 9 or 10 years old and I was writing about how our family needed to buy new tires and that would postpone our trip. I think that it has stuck with me because I never want Max and Madeleine to know if we need new tires and if that is a financial stress for us. But now, to this day, in my almost 41st year of life I find the subject I avoid the most is money.

This has always been the case. When I was a babysitter I hated to ask people to pay me or tell them what I charged. This continues to be the case when I'm tutoring. Obviously I have gotten over it a bit and can remain professional but I find myself telling the PTA at my school, "that's okay, I can probably pay for that out of pocket". They look at me like I'm crazy and tell me to send them my receipts.

Michael and I are even in an okay spot. We have know 'strapped-ness' when I wasn't working and the babes were little we were POOR with a capital P. We felt the pinch of one person working. But now, we both work and our childcare is not nearly what it has been. Even so... I don't like talking about money.

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So, when the idea of Camp No Limits came up in our family and the idea of fundraising for it I became nervous again. I really really hate asking people for money. I mentioned it once on facebook and then I let it go.

Last night Madeleine asked me if we were going to go to camp this year. I responded with "I'm not sure we haven't raised any money yet". This might sound harsh but in some ways I wanted her to own this endeavor. I wanted her to see that things aren't free and that we work to have things we want. She suggested we do a bake sale. Not sure where that would happen or if anyone would want to eat what I bake but... I kept pressing her for ideas. She then said, "what if I ride my unicycle around greenlake."  Greenlake is a Seattle icon. It is a man-made lake that is 3 miles in diameter with a popular running/biking path for locals.

I think that is fabulous! This will be hard for an almost 7 year old. She isn't an *expert* at the unicycle but she is getting there. Furthermore, 3 miles is a LONG way. This event has not been put on the calendar but since school let out yesterday we will work something out now.

In addition to my own efforts I have really good friends.
My friend Laura is having a birthday in the beginning of July and putting on a fundraiser for Camp No Limits. How awesome! email me or send a message if you want details!
Thanks Laura!

So, with a bit of help we will probably go to CNL again. I will be better about updates if that happens. And to give you inspiration- check out Mad's fundraising page that includes a video of her rocking the unicycle.
https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/Madeleine/camp-no-limits-idaho-2013

Cheers and happy summer!