I read a news account today about a man who had his wallet stolen out of his jacket while it was hanging in a hallway of the New York City building he worked in at the time in 1969. Workers tearing an interior wall out of the old structure recently found the long lost billfold after all of these years. Everything was still in it just as he had left it 42 years ago. (The cash of course was gone.) Nothing was mentioned about the lost money…

There was a snapshot of his young, pretty wife that he had taken that year when she was all dressed up for Easter Sunday. And there were pictures of two small children still completely intact in the wallet that had been stowed in a wall for over 4 decades. It was the pictures that the man talked about in his interview with the media. Nothing was mentioned about the lost money…

The tangible reminders of that era in his life caused him to be very emotional. Nothing was mentioned about his wife today, so I could not help but wonder if she is deceased.  Based on the age of the children in the pictures I would surmise that they are in the late 40’s or early 50’s today. The snapshots and the other items he kept in his billfold in 1969 were symbolic of an era that has long passed for that older gentleman. But nothing was mentioned about the lost money…

As I read this account today, I felt a little better. I must confess that I get emotional when I walk down the hallway in our home near two now empty bedrooms where my two older boys once slept. There are collages of photos on the walls of that hallway of three little boys. Now two are adults and one will be soon. At this stage in life, I don’t ever think about the money I did not have during their formative years. It just never crosses my mind. In fact, it is just not important to me. But I treasure that era and the pictures that represent it. My message to young dads with small children today: don’t get caught up in the pursuit of success or the acquisition of stuff. I can promise you 40 years from now that you won’t mention money gained or lost.