Memories (part one) - the home

I have been traveling down memory lane the last few days. Trying to gather together memories of past events, and life lessons learned from my parents. This has led to today's posting, and hopefully more future blogs as well. The first memory to be illustrated here, and one of the important lessons I learned from my parents, was that of leading a frugal lifestyle. More times that I can count have I witnessed first-hand my parents going without their wants, so that they could achieve financial needs.

I have vibrant, yet scattered, memories of moments in my life prior to moving to the home where I "grew up". We moved to my present home when I was three years and two months old (at that young age, the months count almost as much as the years do). It was my parent’s goal to buy a home of their own one day - where they could have the security of home ownership, grow as a family, and have adequate space for their anticipated children. So they made many financial sacrifices over the years to enable the realization of their various goals for the future.

A few weeks into their marriage, Mom discovered that Dad had credit cards with multiple department stores in town - and that each card had quite a few charges on them. She firmly set down the rule that if they didn’t have the cash for something, then they didn’t need it, and therefore it was not to be purchased. And if Dad didn’t agree with that arrangement, then Mom would take those cards and put Dad so far into debt that he would never get out. Fully believing her statement/threat - Dad soon became convinced that she was correct (after all, church leaders had been instructing members to "get out of debt and stay out of debt" for years). "Cash only" became their mantra from that time forward, and with few exceptions (such as home or car purchases) they followed that rule for financial freedom. Soon Dad was almost a greater proponent of this frugal concept than Mom was.

Within a year after their wedding, my parents moved into a one-bedroom first floor apartment in the north-west corner of a Victorian era home - which had been converted into multiple residences. This home was located a block from Temple Square - the Conference Center Theater now stands on the corner where that home once stood. A mere memory now of a time and place that is no longer. It was there in a small and cramped apartment they would live for the next seven years. And it was there also where they would welcome the births and early years of their two children.