Reckless Pat: Coming Soon?

What is the last thing on which you spent money - possession, experience, gift - that struck you at the time as being wildly indulgent? If you've never done this, have you ever fantasized about it? If you've never done anything like this or fantasized about it, feel free to skip the next paragraph and continue practicing that walk-on-water bit.

No doubt, being the oldest child of depression-era working class parents initially shaped my cautious spending habits. And my hippie college years and subsequent just-barely-scraping-by life as a young adult musician almost certainly reinforced the notion of living within my means. Then, not long after my daughter arrived - I'm now thirty nine and have a little discretionary income - I read of the cost of a college education in 2007. The fantasies would have to suffice until 2011.

Six years now since burning that last tuition bill. Is reckless Pat coming soon? Perhaps. Still, walking-on-water sarcasm aside, it gives me pause that my lifelong financial fantasies have always revolved around ways to indulge myself vs. helping others.